Reinvesting in America

After winning a Pulitzer Prize with the Louisville Courier-Journal, Garr joined the nonprofit advocacy group World Hunger Year in 1989 and undertook an examination of grassroots organizations devoted to helping the poor become self-reliant. After visiting more than 200 cities, towns and villages in all 50 states and more than 500 projects, he details programs to assist Americans in securing food, shelter, decent housing, health care, political power, jobs skills and employment. The most effective agencies, he concludes, are multipurpose organizations that seek to identify and deal with problems using a one-on-one approach involving the people they serve as planners, builders and board members. The aim here is to help the down-and-out get back on their feet. This upbeat volume has a message for individuals, groups, elected officials and government agencies and may inspire many of us to emulate the organizations studied here. An appendix titled ``Getting Involved'' lists more than 180 grassroots groups by state for readers stirred to action. Author tour. (July)