Saratoga Springs Native and National Community Change Expert Rich Harwood Returns to Give Keynote at NYLA Conference Nov. 6
Skidmore College Graduate Working to Change the Country One Community at a Time

For more than 25 years, Saratoga Springs native Rich Harwood has worked to help people and organizations across the country create more engaged communities.  On Nov. 6, Rich – founder and president of the Washington, D.C.-area Harwood Institute for Public Innovation – will return to Saratoga Springs to deliver the keynote address at the New York Library Association’s annual conference.

A nationally renowned expert, author and speaker on transforming communities, Rich – a Skidmore College graduate - will talk about how libraries, partner groups and other supporters can accelerate positive change in their communities. He will also speak about people’s frustration with the acrimony and divisiveness in politics and public life and how we can move forward on the nation’s most critical issues.

The visit to Saratoga Springs is part of Rich’s Reclaiming Main Street campaign, designed to engage people in making community a common enterprise again.

Rich was recently described as “the nation’s leading crusader for community action” in The Colorado Springs Business Journal. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune called his Institute’s approach “genius: They train a community to solve its problems, to find its opportunities.”

Rich kicked off his campaign in Washington, D.C. and has traveled to numerous communities such as Battle Creek, Mich., Murray, Ky., Colorado Springs, Colo. and Sarasota, Fl. Check out recent coverage of Rich’s campaign in an interview on NPR-affiliate WKMS, an article in The Colorado Springs Business Journal and a column in Spokane’sJournal of Business.

As part of his campaign, Rich is training 5,000 public innovators and recruiting a 100,000-person Public Innovators Corps by 2016. Public innovators are people with the mindset and skills to tackle problems ranging from gaps in education and low school graduation rates to poverty and inadequate health care. Rich will provide these community catalysts with the tools and support they need to create positive, lasting change.

At each stop, he is talking to people about their aspirations for their communities. He has created a virtual Townhall, a site where people can post their aspirations and read what others are saying across the country.

Find out more about the Reclaiming Main Street campaign in Rich’s blog, “Our New Goal: 5,000 Trained Public Innovators Ready to Change the Country.”

Rich earned his undergraduate degree in political economy at Skidmore College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a Harry S Truman Scholar. He received a graduate degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.


More about Rich Harwood

Rich Harwood is founder and president of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, a national nonprofit organization based in Bethesda, Md. The Institute teaches and coaches people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together.

Rich's transformational work has spread to thousands of communities nationally and worldwide - from small towns to large cities - through concrete methods he created and has honed for more than 25 years. A recent article in The Colorado Springs Business Journal called Rich “the nation’s leading crusader for community action.”

Rich’s proven practices are based on hands-on work with individuals, organizations and communities in their quest to create change. His talks, coaching techniques and practical guides have provided the hope and inspiration for individuals and groups to improve their public and private lives. In 2013, he facilitated Newtown, Connecticut's unanimous decision on the fate of Sandy Hook Elementary, where 20 children and six adults were killed in December 2012.

Rich is currently on a nationwide campaign, Reclaiming Main Street, traveling the country to address the corrosive effect the current political environment is having on our ability to make progress in the country. As part of his tour, Rich is training 5,000 public innovators and recruiting a 100,000-person Public Innovators Corps. He is also collecting people’s aspirations for their communities in an online forum, Townhall.

A visionary with the ability to help people identify obstacles and tap their aspirations, Rich has inspired hundreds of audiences as he shares his philosophy of what it takes to be relevant and connected in today's world. Rich is also a prolific author whose books include "The Work of Hope: How Individuals and Organizations Can Authentically Do Good"; "Make Hope Real"; and "Why We're Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward." Rich has also written numerous studies and articles that chronicle the most vital issues of our time.  

He has appeared on national media including MSNBC, National Public Radio, CNN, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, CBS Radio, The Christian Science Monitor and USA Today. Rich and his work have also been featured globally in outlets ranging from German Public Radio and China Central Television to the Voice of Russia Radio.

Learn more about Rich and his inspirational personal journey. Follow Rich on Twitter @RichHarwood using his hashtag, #turnoutward and join him on Facebook at RichHarwood.