From civic engagement to civic health

I just finished reading Stephen Goldsmith's The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good as preparation for my internship (which begins in about ten days!). Goldsmith is a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) who has served as a mayor in Indianapolis and as the chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service (which is the government agency where the White House Council for Community Solutions is situated). Reading the book this week reminded me a lot of my HKS core coursework, especially on public leadership and management.

The Power of Social Innovation presents a series of case studies of civic leaders of all varieties working with communities to advance systemic change that is community-owned and community-led. Igniting creative civic engagement is particularly significant because the focus is not on creating new organizations and initiatives but on thinking beyond individual organizations and instead on interconnected support networks within fertile communities. This logic is reminiscent of fellow HKS professor Ed Glaeser's The Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, ­Greener, Healthier, and Happier, which espouses the following mantra over and over again: invest in people, not places.

Transforming communities' civic health requires an integrated approach with the public, non-profit, and private sectors working together with communities. Reforming education is imperative, and it's no surprise that many of Goldsmith's examples of successful models that work across sectors in interconnected ways have their roots in education -- America's Promise's Grad Nation efforts, YouthBuild, and Neighborhoods@Work.

The mission of HKS is to cultivate civic leaders who will generate ideas to solve the world's most pressing public problems. We -- and many others -- have an obligation to become the public leaders who will work with communities to lead civic realignment efforts that collaborate effectively across sectors towards greater civic health.