Critiques and solutions offered by social changemakers from all walks of life
The United States is living through a period of polarization and upheaval. We hunger for answers, yet too often turn to the same people and institutions, expecting different outcomes. How can this be?
This book takes a different angle. It features award-winning social innovators from all walks of life with decades of experience of working in and with their communities across America. In twenty-two deep, idea-packed conversations, they share their analyses, practical insights, and policy recommendations--on how to gain common ground, get the country unstuck, and increase prosperity and well-being for all.
These narratives share a common thread: They see community members--workers, young people, parents, neighbors, from Appalachia to Silicon Valley, from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes-- as creative, resourceful, and strong, with unique expertise and lived experience of the problem at hand, whose changemaking energy can be tapped to build a better future for all of us.
About the Author: Konstanze Frischen is a member of the global leadership group of Ashoka, a global organization that invests in transformative ideas for social change. A social anthropologist by background, she has co-led Ashoka's emergence and growth in Western Europe. She has been a writer for CNN and a writer/editor for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as well as a board member for GLS Bank, Germany's leading ethical financial institution.
Michael Zakaras is the director of Ashoka US and co-founder of Ashoka's "All America" initiative which pushes the boundaries of social entrepreneurship beyond the traditional coastal circles. Michael has previously worked for Ashoka in Ireland and Central Europe, and before that in the California wine industry. He writes regularly about social entrepreneurship for Forbes, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and more.
