- Jan 31, 2009
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I am currently a member of two such organizations. One is a faith based while the other is secular and focused on mentoring boys and young men. Both have some level of effectiveness, but we are rowing against the current. Effective strategies in todays' environment must occur at a societal or cultural level. Individuals and local organizations cannot do enough to effect change unless the effort goes viral and starts to influence our culture, our way of life. It's time for a top-down strategy that seeks to influence our culture, our way of life, our values, and our perception of ourselves as a people.
IMO, this is the only way to outpace the trends and make community wide changes that specifically target improvement in those pressing issues mentioned in the OP.
This sounds nice in theory, but a top down organization would still rely on a network of individual smaller efforts to implement these changes. This is how non-profits typically form coalitions/drives to work on problems. In the end, it will still involve people supporting a local effort/organization of choice at a granular level.