Local leaders in Youngstown, many of whom have been using Harwood tools and ideas, have stepped forward to help lead an effort to understand the city's aspirations for education, and ensure that school reform reflect's people's concerns in the context of the community.

For years I often talked about how Americans had retreated from the public square into small circles of friends and families. That same narrative has persisted in how different groups, authors, and others have diagnosed what’s happening in American public life and politics. But that view of America is now outdated, and a different view is needed if we are to move ahead productively.

I’ve watched in pain as we are all learning about Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales’ alleged massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, including men, women and children. The murders are horrific. And so, too, is the reminder of the strains of war and how we view and treat American soldiers, one of my own ongoing concerns. We must mobilize ALL Americans to provide more support to them.

Maybe I should be writing today about Super Tuesday and the fight among Republican candidates for their party’s nomination. But there’s perhaps an even more important fight of national significance, one that involves Rush Limbaugh. People’s response to Limbaugh’s recent hateful comments is a victory for decency and for standing up to bullies, tyrants, and foul-mouthed, corrosive behavior in public life. We need more of this.

The need for community anchor institutions keeps coming up in conversations and so I want to lay out 7 keys for moving ahead productively. Let me be clear upfront: Communities cannot create change without these institutions, but not all actions will lead down the right path – and many will be downright harmful.

The U.S. has been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and now soldiers are coming home without adequate supports. I’ve written on this topic before, and I do so here again because I cannot fathom how we allow this to happen. We make soldiers carry the body bags of their dead comrades, and then we make those returning home carry their own baggage of injuries to mind and body filled with unrelenting pain.

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.

I hope you caught the Super Bowl ad “Halftime in America,” featuring Clint Eastwood. It’s amazing. Like Chrysler’s ad with Eminem, this one captures the country’s mood and people’s aspirations for moving forward. But the response to the ad reflects the sheer silliness and shallowness of our politics. Now, each of us must disregard the political posturing and tune into what we really want.

Once again Bruce Springsteen’s fans are being ripped off by scalpers who buy up then re-sell tickets at exorbitant prices, an act that encapsulates much of what people want changed in America today. The good news: Springsteen understands all this and is taking action. Now, if only others in our politics and elsewhere would take his cue.

I watched the GOP presidential primary debate last night and was aghast at the grandiosity put forth as sound ideas for moving the country forward. Now I await President Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight. Such grandiosity only makes a mockery of reality, insults people’s intelligence, and leaves people behind. Something has to give.