Richard C. Harwood - Stepping Forward: A Positive, Practical Path to Transform Our Communities and Our Lives

For anyone looking to ratchet down the shouting and ratchet up the solutions in todays society, look no further than Richs book. Having dedicated his career to community building, Rich understands that peopleand their dignitylie at the heart of strong communities. Rich knows how to heal divides, build bridges, and help all people find greater opportunity, and his experiences weave together a story of hope and purpose that we can all use to build better selves and support the places we call home.

BRIAN GALLAGHER, President and CEO, United Way Worldwide

Stepping Forward is a profound and inspiring book by one of our leading organizers. Blending memoir, reporting, and razor-sharp, strategic analysis of how social change happens, Rich Harwood offers an unforgettable account of what it means to connect, engage, and transform the world. Its a powerful call to action, a necessary read for these difficult times.

ERIC KLINENBERG, Professor of Sociology at New York University and author of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life

Reflecting on thirty years of transformational work in the field, Rich Harwood presents a critical case of people-centered service, which keeps intact human dignity, connection, and individualisma message especially important in this time when mistrust and divisions dominate the headlines. He shares poignant lessons from his journey, laying a compelling framework to guide us forward, to a hopeful future.

MICHELE NUNN, President and CEO, CARE USA

Stepping Forward thunders with optimism amid an America overwhelmed with worry. Decades of work in communities large and small informs Harwoods unique perspective on an America that has lost its way. Eschewing mere diagnosis, Rich Harwood teaches us how to bind our cultural wounds, embrace our shared humanity, and, in so doing, remake our Republic. In an America where too many have weaponized difference for their own ends, Stepping Forward is a well-timed act of civic faith, reminding us that none are exempt, as Senator Edward M. Kennedy said, from the common obligation to give of ourselves.

MELODY BARNES, Co-Director, Democracy Initiative, University of Virginia and former Director, White House Domestic Policy Council (200920012)

Many people are distressed by todays bitter divisiveness and feel powerless to affect the forces shaping their lives. Rich offers up a set of simple but profound insights for making a difference, drawn from a lifetime of reflection and working in communities around the country. Stepping Forward is a powerful and timely book.

DAVID MATHEWS, President, Kettering Foundation

Richard Harwood has written a practical book about dreams. This is no oxymoron. In Stepping Forward, Harwood shows how community transformation involves unlocking personal aspirations and linking them to our innate desire to be part of something larger than ourselves. He captures the spiritual essence of what it has meant in our past to be American, inviting each one of us to be part of that great journey. It is therefore really a book about the human soul. The very language of the book tells it all: covenant, resilience, dignity, loyalty, faith, and love. When we discover each others deep humanness, we forge bonds that enable us to create our future together. Rich Harwood shows us how.

RABBI DANIEL G. ZEMEL, Temple Micah, Washington, DC

Stepping Forward offers thoughtful guidance about one of the most important tasks facing our country: building the civic infrastructure of communities to help them solve problems, cross divides, and find common ground. Through inspiring stories of communities like Sandy Hook, Mobile, Battle Creek, Youngstown, and more, this book proves one of the key principles it offers: Communities gain hope by seeing others.

HILARY PENNINGTON, Executive Vice President for Program, Ford Foundation

In Stepping Forward Richard Harwood, divinely inspired and masterfully, elevates our thinking toward various and pressing challenges we face in our communities. He accomplishes this while simultaneously offering pragmatic approaches for a path forward. I have spent considerable time in many of the places that Rich highlights, and Ive seen and experienced some of his work firsthand. The results are real. Rich is answering a clarion call from our nations hardest hit communities. Fortified with the knowledge and inspiration from this book, we should all now proceed to join him.

JAY WILLIAMS, President and CEO, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving; former Mayor of Youngstown, Ohio; and Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration

In a time when people feel hopeless and helpless, Harwood offers practical and spiritually inspiring advice about how community builders can learn to find common ground and create a civic culture, not just carry out a civic program. A profound aspect of this book is its recognition of the hunger for human dignity and for the ability to shape our own lives.

BETTY SUE FLOWERS, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin and former Director, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library

Stepping Forward is a moving account of local communities dealing with some of the key questions that often arise in the process of creating the change they so desire. In his reflection, Richard Harwood draws inspiration from the Biblical Moses in his famous response Here I am. During these polarized times, Richard is active in communities that desperately need to turn outward. A central message running throughout the book provides us with a renewed sense of hopeby building upon shared values rather than emphasizing divisions, we can make important progress.

WILLICE ONYANGO, Executive Director, The Youth Cafe, Kenya

Rich Harwood calls us back to a pragmatic American idealism. His perspective is unique and timely. Read Stepping Forward and rediscover your individual purpose and how we can shape our shared future, together.

SHIRLEY SAGAWA, CEO, Service Year

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press

Austin, Texas

www.gbgpress.com

Copyright 2019 Richard C. Harwood

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group

For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Greenleaf Book Group at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709, 512.891.6100.

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group and Sheila Parr

Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group and Sheila Parr

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-62634-676-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62634-677-2

Part of the Tree Neutral program, which offsets the number of trees consumed in the production and printing of this book by taking proactive steps, such as planting trees in direct proportion to the number of trees used: www.treeneutral.com

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

19 20 21 22 23 24 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

To my wife Jackieyou have helped me step forward in more ways than I can count.