Revitalizing Struggling American Cities

I have spent much of my professional life looking for the lever that would transform the lives of low-income people. In the 1980s, I believed it was housing. In the 1990s, I was certain it was strong community organizations. In the first part of this millennium, I thought the Internet was going to be the savior. Then in 2002, I sought financial support from Cisco Systems for an initiative we were developing at One Economy Corporation, an organization I co-founded in 2000. Cisco was a loyal supporter of our work and excited about this new idea. But the funders there said: “You can’t solve this problem alone. You’re rebuilding an ecosystem. Who are the other organizations that must be part of your solution if this is going to succeed?”.