Smart Communities: How Citizens and Local Leaders Can Use Strategic Thinking to Build a Brighter Future (Hardcover)

by Suzanne W. Morse (Author)
Key Phrases: boundary crossers, civic change, community conversations, North Carolina, New York, Lower Downtown (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Anyone who dreams of making his or her community a better place to live and work should read this book. It is a refreshingly practical primer on how towns, cities, and regions can create a shared vision and measurable impact.”
—Janice C. Kreamer, president and CEO, Greater Kansas City Community Foundation

“Innovation and entrepreneurship have always been the driving forces behind the success of U.S. commerce and industry. Smart Communities clearly demonstrates with real and compelling examples that these same forces are just as important in the public and nonprofit sectors and are making a difference in communities all over America.”
—Michael Rubinger, president, Local Initiatives Support Corporation

“Everyone who is working to bring about positive change in their communities, from college presidents to next-door neighbors, will be grateful that Suzanne Morse is sharing her vast experience in community building in this highly readable and helpful book. It provides a roadmap for any community, large or small, that wants to create a better future by working togeth er for effective change.”
—Elizabeth L. Hollander, executive director, Campus Compact

“Using the insight gained from having a ‘front row seat watching community change,’ Suzanne Morse has distilled those observations into a strategy for success. Her practical formula builds upon the good that exists in communities now to help them transform their neighborhoods and the nation—with principles, planning, and perseverance.”
—Angela Glover Blackwell, president, PolicyLink, and coauthor, Searching for the Uncommon Good

“Rare is the book which weaves civic stories with wise counsel about what we must do to foster communities that present and future generations will respect and hold dear. This book speaks to the aspirations of all American citizens who lead, volunteer, and give in the places they live.”
—Gregg Behr, president, The Forbes Funds, and founding director, The Content of Our Character Project

“The book is a Matisse drawing of communities¾fresh, concise, and very, very timely.”
—Frieda Garcia, former president, United South End Settlements

Product Description
Based on the results of more than a decade of research by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, Smart Communities provides directions for strategic decision-making and outlines the key strategies used by thousands of leaders who have worked to create successful communities. Smart Communities offers leaders from both the public and private sectors the tools they need to create a better future for all the community's citizens. Using illustrative examples from communities around the country, Smart Communities shows how these change agents' well-structured decision-making processes can be traced to their effective use of seven key leverage points:

Investing right the first time

Working together

Building on community strengths

Practicing democracy

Preserving the past

Growing leaders

Inventing a brighter future

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (March 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787965162
• ISBN-13: 978-0787965167
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #487,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bonanza For Anyone Working to Bring about Change, April 11, 2004

By	retta b. kelley "[e-mail]" (austin, tx USA) - See all my reviews

Finally, an exceedingly hopeful book about how to effect meaningful change in a community, large or small. Here, Dr. Suzanne Morse, in her characteristic lively and to-the-point style, has given us a guide, repleat with documented examples of how to move the needle on those issues we're all too familiar with: poverty, lack of a board base of leadership, chidren's welfare. Armed with more than 10 years of hands on experience working with groups in communities all across the country, Dr. Morse's book, as well as many of her other supportive pieces such as What Works, guarantees us all that we no longer have to start at square one. If you were depressed by Robert Putnam's novel a few years back, Bowling Alone, which bemoaned the lack of citizen involvement in communities today, this book and the work of Dr. Morse will give you not only hope but the tools to join forces with others where you live to make a difference.
Read it for the cheer joy of finding out how this is done, and done well.Each chapter ends with, How to Get Started in Your Community, a virtual workbook for action. Her reference section will also help guide you in fruitful directions.Putnam's latest book, Better Together: Restoring the American Community, speaks of a hint that citizens are beginning to "bowl together". Dr. Morse's book is proof that they are and have been doing so effectively for the past decade.Enjoy--an exhilerating read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart Commununities, June 10, 2004

By	Virginia Paget (Yellow Springs, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This book is an antidote for the cynicism and sense of helplessness that pervades too many of our communities. We are given actual examples of communities builing on their strengths, talents, histories and values to create new energy and optimism. As an amatuer historian, my favorite chapter was the one on preserving the past as a way to begin building the new. Now I have the language to encourage renewal by honoring the past.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strategic Thinking and Acting, April 22, 2004

By	Charles L. Willis (Dayton, Ohio) - See all my reviews

I was attracted to this book while looking for insights into strategic thinking for work in another arena. I was not disappointed.

Smart Communities offers many very useable ideas for anyone with responsibilities for thinking and acting strategically to enhance our lives together. And that probably includes most everyone.

Along with very practical help, the accounts and interpretations of real experiences also offer inspiration and hope.