Last week I was in the small town of Corning, N.Y. to give the keynote speech at the United Way of the Southern Tier’s Annual Dinner. The trip reaffirmed my belief that small towns can – and should – be engines for the kind of change the country yearns for today. But first we must see them as the assets they are.

Reflections from Greg Braylock, Jr. Education Impact Specialist for United Way of Greater Toledo Early in the 3½ day Harwood Lab, the message sank in: organizations that seek to serve people too often know of the people they work to serve, but don’t really know the people they serve. This subtlety becomes the difference between failed or mildly successful plans, policies, initiatives, and programs, and those that are successful, sustained, citizen driven and system supported.

Over the years we've found there’s a pretty simple value proposition for why it’s so important that we turn outward toward the community. If you turn outward and make more intentional judgments and choices in creating change, you will produce greater impact and relevance in your community.

Is school reform dead in Washington D.C. now that Mayor Adrian Fenty was solidly defeated for re-election? Many observers see his defeat as a sign that people don’t want genuine reform or have the stomach for it. They’re wrong. But to create real and sustainable transformation, we’ll need to take a different path. There are lessons from DC for all of us.