The Power of One: The Unsung Everyday Heroes Rescuing America's Cities

There's a new civic trend in America. The best estimates are that it began in the early eighties, but it's been growing even stronger in the new millennium. After a fifty-year stretch of less than effective, government-supplied social programs, unsung citizen heroes are now challenging the conventional wisdom, applying common sense to the country's social problems and creating more effective solutions!

The Power of One uncovers the true stories behind some of the country's most fascinating grassroots innovators. They range from businessmen to teenagers and housewives to the clergy. Crime, welfare dependency, and housing shortages are motivating these people to give up their high-paying jobs, their personal lives, and even personal safety to pursue their passion for coming to the rescue of their fellow human beings. Thanks in large part to the Internet, the inventions of these grassroots organizers are being replicated and "civic-franchised" across the country, even around the globe.

How effective are these new ideas and why haven't we heard more about them? How are they financed? The Power of One explores these and other questions about America's new civic culture. Those skeptical about the health of the nation's cities might be surprised to learn that social change is possible, even without a high price tag. The only challenges are ways to give these successful civic solutions broader exposure, a financial boost, and a speedier route to replication into more neighborhoods and cities.

Can an ordinary person pioneer a social cure? Absolutely! The 26 accounts in this book are the proof. America owes a great deal to its unsung "civic architects.' Their altruism, ingenuity, and compassion are restoring lives and saving millions in taxpayer dollars as they revitalize neighborhoods, support troubled youth, and liberate those going through life transitions. These secular and faith-based solutions are soon to become the social templates for restoring America's twenty-first century towns and cities from sea to shining sea!