inReads is an innovative new project, dedicated to a catchy new term called “social readia.” The website’s content is focused “on books, technology and culture and how the three intersect and influence one another.” The community is like a new, virtual book club and lets people learn and share what’s being read in today’s ever-changing world. One of our contributors, Felicia Pride, is the Executive Editor of inReads and discusses how the project came about.

When I first met with Michael Holstein, the executive producer of the then-unnamed inReads, he told me, “We want to do something different.”

What I knew: This WETA initiative would be online and it would be about books.

Everything else was up in the air.

And you know how vast that is.

So as a team, which includes the amazing agency Interface Media Group (IMG), we brainstormed. No idea was off the table. How about Netflix for books? What about a site all about classics?

The conference calls were actually endless, but luckily didn’t feel that way because the conversations about the site were so riveting. It led to debates like: Where are books headed? How are we reading? How do we talk about reading now? And because our talks involved a range of minds including techies, bibliophiles and business people, they were layered and thought-provoking.

Who knew building a web property would be so philosophical?

And then it hit us. What we were doing is exactly what we wanted visitors to do: converse. And do so beyond their usual comfort zone.

Aha: We’re going to be a destination for conversation and community.

We quickly realized however that within the realm of conversation, narrowing down the focus is helpful. We came up with ours: books, technology, and culture. Which, if you think about it, pretty much covers everything.

Our next question: How is this conversation going to be facilitated within our community?

We knew we wanted the conversation to mimic traditional discussion but also take advantage of the many ways that we’re now able to converse because of technology.

Simultaneously, we had to figure out what we were going to call ourselves. I won’t list any of my suggestions here as to avoid all judgment. Let’s just say there were some winners and some losers.

There was something about inReads that rolled off the tongue. And as we continued to develop and shape what this site would be, inReads became more and more fitting. We’re not just books. We want to discuss all types of reads. And we want to do it in an exploratory and engaging way, as well as a technological one—we want to be literally in reads.

Then it was off to begin the site’s design and coding. Poor IMG. We put them through it. I’m actually scared to ask Clint, our project manager, how many different mockups were created. In the midst of all our back-and-forth, the one thing that we didn’t waver on was simplicity.

And here we are, just a few weeks after launch, many work hours, ideas, and conversations later.

I can’t tell you how excited we are to spark conversation and build community with everyone—techies, bibliophiles, cultural critics, those in between, and those who blur the lines.

Isn’t that what the best reads make us do anyway?

Felicia Pride is an independent content producer, creative entrepreneur, and educator. She’s the executive editor of inReads.com, an initiative of WETA and the first community dedicated to “social readia.” She’s also a co-creator at 2MPower Media which focuses on projects that connect media, entertainment, and education. In addition to writing six books, Felicia has launched a youth film project, taught in the South Bronx, developed curricula for books/films, helped to launch an online teen book club, and completed her first feature screenplay which goes into production this summer. Currently, she is a fellow at the Hip-Hop Education Center at NYU. Visit her online at www.feliciapride.com or on Twitter at @feliciapride.

You can read Felicia’s posts every other Wednesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

The debate over what to do about the nation’s debt ceiling only gets sillier by the day.  Demands and counter-demands are producing little progress, which leaves the debate at an impasse. So what to do? Of paramount importance is to restore people’s faith in their leaders and themselves. One key step: The president should immediately call an open, televised roundtable discussion with congressional leaders as he did on health care.

What the country urgently needs is for someone to flip a “circuit breaker” to stop all the noise surrounding the debt crisis debate and provide Americans with a greater sense of coherence and meaning about what is happening, and then to help create some semblance of possibility about how to move ahead. Leaders must demonstrate that it is possible to engage with one another, and to engage the nation, and for us to make progress.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Truth be told, I’m usually against meetings like the health care roundtable. Typically, they turn into staged events where participants simply repeat canned positions. But, as you may recall, the health care roundtable actually led to some substantive discussion about where progress could be made, and where differences remained.  There was real give-and-take, which offered the nation a moment of sanity in a sea of uncontrolled craziness.

Of course, the news media’s instant coverage of the health care roundtable didn’t help at the time. It was framed much like a post-game sports show, where analysts and pundits picked winners and losers, replayed “highlights,” and revved up conflict.

But that’s no reason for inaction now; for we must not minimize the damage to people’s faith in politics and public life from the current debate. A poll in today’s Washington Post reports fewer than a third of Americans hold much confidence in congressional leaders’ handling of the debt crisis, and under one-half in the president. No matter how one looks at the numbers, they’re ugly. People’s sentiments only reinforce a deepening narrative in the nation that we do not have the collective ability to get things done.

A televised meeting would air out the discussion about the nature of the challenge and how we got here. It would explore arguments for different options for dealing with the situation. Make no mistake: in all likelihood this won’t lead to any grand agreement on how to handle the debt crisis. But it would require leaders to make clear arguments, and to be held accountable for their statements, demeanor and posture. And it would require them to take responsibility for this challenge, rather than continue their empty posturing, gamesmanship, and desire for someone else to make the hard decisions.

As in communities, when impasse occurs, there often is agreement that a problem exists, but a lack of common ground about what to do about it.  The current debt crisis is no different. Thus, one of the most important things that can happen at such a point is to acknowledge and “name” the problem, and then determine steps forward that give people a genuine sense that things are moving in a sound direction. Then a debate about subsequent actions can ensue.

Striking just “any deal” to break the current gridlock is not enough, especially one filled with gimmicks, which will only deepen people’s cynicism. At the heart of the debt crisis debate is people’s very faith in our ability to engage productively and get things done. It’s late in the game to call the type of meeting I have in mind, but it’s not too late.

Mr. President, make the call.

A dynamic public speaker, Rich Harwood is a frequent keynote for foundations and national organizations. He is an expert contributor on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, and many others. He is also the author of Hope Unraveled: The people’s retreat and our way back (2005), Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good (2008) and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, Why We’re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward, is being published and distributed in Spring 2011. You can follow him on twitter @RichHarwood and facebook.com/richharwood.

You can read Rich’s posts every Tuesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

John McKnight

John McKnight is an expert on communities. An Ohio native who currently lives near Chicago, he has spent decades organizing communities and researching them, primarily in the Windy City itself. In the course of his career, he mobilized neighborhoods during the civil rights movement, wrote several books about community development, created a center for urban affairs at Northwestern University, and even taught the current President a thing or two about advocacy. (Yes, it’s true: way back when, a young and eager Barack Obama interned at McKnight’s training program for community organizers in southeast Chicago). If that’s not enough, he recently co-authored a book called “The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods.”

Now, State of the Re:Union is thrilled to share some of McKnight’s insight with you. In an exciting partnership, we will feature articles from The Abundant Community. Last week, I was lucky enough to ask McKnight a few questions about his latest book, his work as a community organizer and some of his current projects.

So, what’s “The Abundant Community” all about?

Co-authored with writer and consultant Peter Block, The Abundant Community argues that neighborhoods can power their own development by tapping into the abundant resources already present within them. As McKnight and Block explain, people tend to look outside their neighborhoods when they want to improve some key aspect of their wellbeing – outsourcing their health care to specialists at big hospitals, for example, or petitioning city hall to pick up their garbage more often. America’s consumer society suggests that ordinary people in local communities cannot satisfy their needs alone, but instead must make purchases or advocate to outside organizations from a position of scarcity. Too often, we “go to institutions that operate within the economy and say we want a bigger piece – that we want our fair share of being a consumer,” said McKnight.

In their book, McKnight and Block show that there’s another way – a form of development that focuses on abundance rather than scarcity. This abundance exists right in our neighborhoods, typically in the form of untapped knowledge, and it can help us improve our health, economy, environment, food and care. For instance, although we tend to associate health with medical care and doctors, much of our physical wellbeing depends upon personal habits (eating healthy foods and exercising frequently), group activity (socializing with friends) and the environment (having access to clean air and water). “All of those things can become more common and supported in a healthful neighborhood,” said McKnight. “These [factors] are local, and they are all enhanced if people are related to each other locally.”

Peter Block & John McKnight

By connecting people and encouraging them share their knowledge about health, the economy, the environment, food or care, we can achieve wellbeing within our communities, instead of constantly seeking help outside them. “The information that people on the block are gathering is abundant and free and critical,” said McKnight.

How did McKnight conduct research for the book?

“The book grew from a half century of experience,” McKnight told me. An activist for the first half of his career, McKnight started as a neighborhood organizer in Chicago and later became the Midwest director for the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In 1969 he was invited to start a center for urban affairs at Northwestern University, where he conducted applied research. “I was trying to find out systematically what makes strong neighborhoods and what kinds of resources help them do their work,” he said.

With a colleague, McKnight established a development method called asset-based community development, which involves uncovering and utilizing strengths within a community. He later helped create a national training program where interns – including young Barack Obama – came to learn about community organizing in neighborhoods of Chicago. On his relationship with the president, McKnight explained, “[Obama] sent me a copy of his book on my birthday, but that’s the last contact I’ve had with him.” He joked, “I think [the president] is dealing with matters beyond what we’re doing now.”

What is McKnight working on today? And where are his sights set for the future?

McKnight is currently co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, though he travels around the country to help communities recognize their abundant resources. “I’m most involved in engaging local people to identify and start using their capacities,” he said. He encourages neighbors to visit with each other and ask each other about their gifts, skills and passions.

Going forward, McKnight wants to help people classify their development projects into three categories – those which can be executed by the community alone, those which require external assistance, and those which must be executed exclusively from the outside. He hopes to focus on improving neighborhood organizations like veterans’ and women’s associations, and he wants to see if mini-loans can help them implement better development projects.

In each of his endeavors, McKnight is seeking to strengthen communities from within. “We’re looking to be a productive community inside by establishing relationships,” he said.

State of the Re:Union will feature articles from Abundant Community‘s John McKnight and Peter Block every other Monday.

Happiness is just ahead…

That’s what the flyer promises.  And I do believe it delivers, even if the happiness is fleeting.  As I make my way to the one time parking lot, now large scale outdoor art installation on the corner of 30th Street and 10th Avenue in New York City, I can hear, even from a distance, the squeals of delight of little children.  And I can see huge, brightly colored inflatable structures floating above the blue and white striped fence that surrounds the space.  The 16,000 square feet lot has been transformed by the art collective FriendsWithYou, in partnership with AOL, into “Rainbow City,” an interactive art exhibit filled with ten to forty foot air-filled sculptures on a green and white stripped floor, creating a dream-like landscape amidst the grey buildings and streets of the city.

FriendsWithYou was established in 2002 by Miami-based artists Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, and has since created experiential installations in Berlin and Art Basel Miami.  A sign upon entering Rainbow City proclaims it is “a place of magic, luck and friendship.”  That is a big claim, but the space certainly does have an other-worldly quality, and one cannot deny that there are more smiles per person than usual in here.  The forty piece environmental installation opened in June in celebration of Section 2 of the High Line, an elevated public park created on an old freight train track.  Huge oval shaped striped balloons bob and twirl in the wind, while a kids and adults alike are encouraged to bounce around inside a smiling inflatable mushroom.  A blue and white striped character with a long nose rises above the rest, creating a funny juxtaposition with the surrounding buildings.  The pieces are designed to encourage interaction, creating a surreal landscape, intended to let children play and reconnect adults with their inner child.

“The creators are all about interacting with art, playing with it. People love it.  They want it to be here year round.  They think it’s magical,” said staff member Marc Bonanni.

A tired looking mother agreed, though I think she would have preferred if it kept her kids’ attention for longer than it did.  “It’s a nice oasis in the middle of the city, but the excitement only lasted so long,” she said.

From the people I talk to in this brightly colored exhibition, I gather it has largely been a planned destination, but I think the true fun is stumbling upon it unexpectedly, like I did; my world going from a solid grey reality to a surreal balloon filled wonderland in just a few steps.  It is already gone… being around for only a month from June 8 until July 5 this summer.  Next time I go back there, something else will be in its place, making me wonder, I am sure, if I dreamed up the whole thing.  As I leave, back into my concrete world it is with a kick in my step and a smile on my face, though it feels almost as if the whole thing could have been my imagination.  I don’t look back, just in case.

My father was a broadcast/film professor at SMU. Radio was his first love, but he relished any and all forms of media—TV news, old movies, theater. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on the Living Theater, the New Deal-era program that paid starving actors, playwrights and directors to stage live drama about current events.
I know that if he were alive today, he would have loved digital media and the almost infinite potential of broadband Internet. I also know he would have been a big fan of BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program), which is part of the federal economic stimulus package adopted in 2009.

In Southern California, the Tribal Digital Village is working with ZeroDivide, the San Francisco-based technology foundation, and using BTOP funding to promote awareness and adoption of broadband in the tribal areas of San Diego County. Baseline broadband adoption on these reservations is only 17 percent, as compared to about 66 percent of communities nationwide. In most cases this is due to a simple lack of availability.
Matthew Rantanen is director of technology for TDV, a nonprofit founded by the Southern California Tribal Chairman’s Association. He says that for many who live in the tribal areas past experience with the Internet, if any, was an AOL dial-up account. “We are out there telling people what broadband actually is, and ways you can make changes in their lives,” says Rantanen. “Many people don’t even understand the opportunities.”
TDV, which is both a provider and an evangelist for broadband, is taking a “slow rollout” approach, moving from reservation to reservation in an effort to sign up more residents for its wireless broadband service, which consists of a solar power microwave tower that sits atop a hill. The group can offer “line of sight” service to homes on and near the reservation. In other words, if you can see the home from the hill, TDV can provide the service.
Currently, TDV is providing broadband service to about 270 homes. Eventually they hope to hit about 2,000 homes, but before they can do that, they need more funding to upgrade the system and partially subsidize the cost of installation and equipment.
So what are the people learning? “We give them give an overview of the Internet, something on online banking, applying for college or jobs, job training, how to use maps, find directions and how to buy airplane tickets,” says Rantanen. “Then we go through the whole social aspect, the My Space, Twitter all that. We jump into personal website building and promoting business, promoting a craft and online sales of the craft. We show how its can be a resource for medical care and e-health for things like DMV, managing your personal assets, investing, email, Apple’s iChat and Skype.”
“Half the people that show up are parents or grandparents of children who have Internet at school, but when they come home, they have nothing,” says Rantanen. So they’re telling their parents or grandparents, `Look, we’ve got to have Internet, because I need it for my school work.’”
BTOP strikes me as having echoes of the New Deal rural electrification program, an effort that transformed the lives and economic fortunes of millions of American in rural areas of the country.

Rantanen for one is a firm believer in the transformational power of broadband, especially when it comes to education and jobs. “The unemployment rate on tribes is typically hovering around 50 percent,” he says. “With broadband they can look on craigslist and find jobs in their area. They can go online for training, build resumes and apply online.”

“Even if you walk into Home Depot to apply in person,” he adds, “they put you at a computer and you fill out the application on a terminal. There’s a huge shift in the way things are working and being out in a rural community and not having access to broadband really restricts your ability to move in today’s market.”

Mike McGrath is senior editor and chief information officer for the National Civic League. A former newspaper reporter and magazine writer, he is editor of the quarterly National Civic Review, which will be beginning its centennial year of publishing this spring.

Mike’s posts will appear every Thursday on the State of the Re:Union website.

Growing up, I always pictured libraries as hushed halls, rows of reference material and the seemingly now antiquated card catalogs.  Now, it’s a place where I bring my daughter for story time, get books and movies, interact with the community and at times, attend Fancy Nancy parties.  And as I’ve learned through LibrariUS, some libraries go beyond that by becoming community cornerstones.

LibrariUS is a national project exploring the information, civic and social needs of communities – through the lens of local libraries.  It is a co-production of the Public Insight Network at American Public Media, the American Library Association, and the Public Library Association.

We will be posting, on occasion, stories people have shared with LibrariUS about how they’re using the library.  This first one comes from Notus, Idaho, population 531, about 30 miles northwest of Boise.

Jo Ellen Ringer, the librarian at Notus Public Library, goes far beyond offering just books. She had a 20-year career as a therapist and social worker before taking on the library in 2003, and she has relied heavily on that experience to create an important social hub, a job training center, and a safe place for children and adults in this rural town.

Take the puzzle table, for example:  Notus doesn’t have public spaces for women to congregate.  But “I learned about [four] years ago, when we had an ongoing jigsaw puzzle on the table, it gave women a reason to linger.” Ms. Ringer says.  “So I make sure one is always in progress.”  Two volunteers, both with much personal experience with alcoholics, abuse and depression, work on the puzzle and welcome new women to join them.  They discuss gardening and canning, but also domestic violence, family relationships, and financial issues.

Like many libraries across the nation, Notus Library has also become a de facto job center.  Construction and truck driving jobs have dried up throughout the county, so Ms. Ringer helps men sign up for e-mail accounts and teaches them to use the computer to look and apply for other jobs.

She gladly provides one-on-one computer instruction, but only until 3 p.m.  That’s when about 15-20 kids – children who don’t have computers with Internet at home – mob the library after school. They walk or bike over, and stay until their parents get off work and pick them up.

“The teens do not require my supervision but the 6- to 12-year-olds do.  I don’t plan any backroom library work after 3 p.m. because I need to be ready to hear about [the kids’] day at school, or fights between parents,” she explains.  “I get them to play Scrabble with me to improve their vocabulary and spelling skills.”

“Every rural librarian has these latchkey kids,” Ms. Ringer adds.  “We get many more when summer comes.  Parents do not have the money for day care for older elementary kids.”

In addition to counseling, tutoring and playing with children, she puts them to work.  “I have trained 14 kids so far to put away books, empty the book drop, put cards back in books.  They handle check-out and place calls for overdue materials, all under my supervision. They learn the Dewey decimal system.  At any given time, three children from 8-14 years of age are my library aides.  As they get older, they look for paying work and the next kids come along, eager to learn.  These children feel a real commitment to their own library.”  And they gain marketable skills.

Read more about the Notus Public Library, and put your library on the map: Tell LibrariUS how you use the library.

You can also use the comments section below to start the conversation about the role the local library plays in your community.