In this new age of the social entrepreneur, too often private sector innovation, as admirable as it is, fails to translate into meaningful change in the larger public sector. There, massive expenditures of public dollars continue to fund delivery of services that have conspicuously failed to solve our most urgent social problems. In a few communities around the country, however, private and public leaders have come together to design significant change in the way we approach public problems, reflecting the best impulses of civic entrepreneurs, and restoring the role of citizens and neighborhoods in self-governance. Former mayor of Indianapolis and current chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service Stephen Goldsmith has been a pioneer in such efforts, and in The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good, he lays out his career-long experience with and research into this approach
