Nationally known community organizer and activist Harry C. Boyte incites readers to join today's "citizen movement," offering practical tools for how we can change the face of America by focusing on issues close to home. Targeting useful techniques for individuals to raise public consciousness and effectively motivate community-based groups, Boyte grounds his arguments in the country's tradition of "populism," demonstrating how mobilized citizens can be far more powerful than our frequently paralyzed politicians. He then offers practical tips on identifying potential citizen leaders and working through cultural differences without sacrificing identities. Each point is illustrated by inspiring real-life examples of Minnesotans who have promoted change: A cluster of suburban neighborhoods that came together to take back Sundays from overzealous youth-sports organizations. An immigrant community that created a cultural wellness center. An organization of multiracial, multifaith congregations that is tackling tough social problems. For readers doubting their ability to make a significant difference in our world, this how-to book will show the way. Harry C. Boyte is an activist, the author of several books, and a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He cofounded the institute's nonpartisan Center for Democracy and Citizenship. Don Shelby, WCCO-TV, has won the nation's top journalism honors, and two Peabody awards.

In the aftermath of the 2010 Citizens United decision, it's become commonplace to note the growing political dominance of a small segment of the economic elite. But what exactly are those members of the elite doing with their newfound influence? The One Percent Solution provides an answer to this question for the first time. Gordon Lafer's book is a comprehensive account of legislation promoted by the nation's biggest corporate lobbies across all fifty state legislatures and encompassing a wide range of labor and economic policies.In an era of growing economic insecurity, it turns out that one of the main reasons life is becoming harder for American workers is a relentless—and concerted—offensive by the country’s best-funded and most powerful political forces: corporate lobbies empowered by the Supreme Court to influence legislative outcomes with an endless supply of cash. These actors have successfully championed hundreds of new laws that lower wages, eliminate paid sick leave, undo the right to sue over job discrimination, and cut essential public services.Lafer shows how corporate strategies have been shaped by twenty-first-century conditions—including globalization, economic decline, and the populism reflected in both the Trump and Sanders campaigns of 2016. Perhaps most important, Lafer shows that the corporate legislative agenda has come to endanger the scope of democracy itself. For anyone who wants to know what to expect from corporate-backed Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., there is no better guide than this record of what the same set of actors has been doing in the state legislatures under its control.

Conflicts of interest, misrepresentation of clinical trials, hospital price-fixing, and massive expenditures for procedures of dubious efficacy--these and other critical flaws leave little doubt that the current U.S. health-care system is in need of an overhaul. In this essential guide, preeminent physician Nortin Hadler urges American health-care consumers to take time to understand the existing system and to visualize what the outcome of successful reform might look like. Central to this vision is a shared understanding of the primacy of the relationship between doctor and patient. Hadler shows us that a new approach is necessary if we hope to improve the health of the populace. Rational health care, he argues, is far less expensive than the irrationality of the status quo. Taking a critical view of how medical treatment, health-care finance, and attitudes about health, medicine, and disease play out in broad social and political settings, Hadler applies his wealth of experience and insight to these pressing issues, answering important questions for Citizen Patients and policy makers alike.

The idea of workers owning the businesses where they work is not new. In America’s early years, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison believed that the best economic plan for the Republic was for citizens to have some ownership stake in the land, which was the main form of productive capital. This book traces the development of that share idea in American history and brings its message to today's economy, where business capital has replaced land as the source of wealth creation.div /DIVdivBased on a ten-year study of profit sharing and employee ownership at small and large corporations, this important and insightful work makes the case that the Founders’ original vision of sharing ownership and profits offers a viable path toward restoring the middle class. Blasi, Freeman, and Kruse show that an ownership stake in a corporation inspires and increases worker loyalty, productivity, and innovation. Their book offers history-, economics-, and evidence-based policy ideas at their best./DIV

Become a self-sufficient citizen developer by learning the tools within the Microsoft Power Platform and how they can be used together to drive change and multiply your productivity. Learn about PowerApps for building applications, Microsoft Flow for automating business processes across those applications, and Power BI for analyzing results and communicating business intelligence through compelling visuals. By understanding the purpose and capabilities of these tools, you will be able to enhance your organization’s visibility into key areas and make informed business decisions in a timely matter. This book is divided into four parts and begins in Part I by showing you how to build applications through PowerApps. You will learn about screens and controls, application sharing and administration, and how to make your applications accessible from mobile devices such as phones and tablets. Part II is about creating workflows using Microsoft Flow that implement business logic across your applications. Part III brings in dashboards and data analysis, showing you how to connect to a data source, cleanse the data from that source, and drive decision making through interactive reports and storytelling. Part IV brings together all the pieces by showing the integrations that are possible when all three tools are combined into a single solution. What You Will Learn Understand the need for the citizen developer in today’s business environment Organize and plan the building of line-of-business applications with PowerApps solutions Replace wasteful paper processes with automated applications built in PowerApps Automate workflows across processes with Microsoft Flow Communicate analytical results through visualizations and storytelling Integrate PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and Power BI into solutions that multiply productivity Who This Book Is For Power users and analysts with strong Excel skills who need a more comprehensive set of tools that can better help them accomplish their vision on projects, those familiar with one of the Power Platform tools who wish to learn how all three can fit together, and those who are seen as as “rogue IT” problem solvers who get things done when others have tried but failed

CITIZEN POWER gives all Americans the know how to become no-blame problem solvers and be part of what is emerging as a new model for a citizen driven national public service