The New Urban Leaders [Hardcover]

Joyce A. Ladner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001

Some of today's best urban leaders don't work for the government --they can be found in nonprofit organizations that serve the working class and poor populations. Based on interviews conducted in major cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and New York, this study focuses on exceptional leaders who have developed effective solutions to the complex problems of our inner cities, including education, economic development, and community safety. The book includes profiles of innovators such as Robert Woodson, founder of the Washington, D.C. based National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, whose work on affordable housing, gang violence, and black entrepreneurship earned a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (the "genius" award); MacArthur Fellowship and Heinz Prize winner Bob Moses, founder of the Algebra Project that prepares low-income students for joining today's technology-dominated workforce; Rheedlen Center head Geoff Canada, who received the Heinz Prize for his "anti-violence among youth" work; and Reverend Eugene Rivers, one of the founders of the Ten-Point Coalition that helped to reduce gang violence in Boston. The New Urban Leadership investigates how and why expert problem solvers chose their career paths, what qualities make them especially successful in their work, and the methods they use to train the next generation of urban leaders.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In The New Urban Leaders, Joyce Ladner, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, profiles some 25 appointed heads of nonprofit community-based urban organizations. Aimed at community activists and leaders, the book includes close studies of a few including Robert Moses, a civil rights era activist who now heads The Algebra Project and the Rev. Eugene Rivers, who fights gang violence in Boston and a broader analysis of how to build such leadership nationally.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ladner, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, explores the accomplishments of two dozen "new urban leaders" who head nonprofit community-based organizations. Her book includes in-depth case studies of three leaders (Ken Amos, Bob Moses, and Eugene Rivers). Other chapters draw on interviews with all Ladner's "leaders" and address general questions: Why have these individuals taken on leadership roles? What are their movements' roots and contemporary situation? What are their most serious problems? How are they working to establish permanent organizations? and How are they preparing their own successors? Of particular readership interest wherever grassroots organizations are trying to cope with ever-larger gaps in the national safety net. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815751087
• ISBN-13: 978-0815751083
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,379,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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