Inside “America’s Path Forward” — A Q&A With the Editors
A new book of conversations with award-winning social innovators
What does the United States look like from the standpoint of the people working to make it better? How can we get the country unstuck, and increase prosperity and well-being for all? These and other questions are taken up in America’s Path Forward (Georgetown University Press, 2023), a new book of timely conversations with social innovators, edited by Konstanze Frischen and Michael Zakaras, both long-time Ashoka colleagues. We spoke about the project, what inspired it, and why it’s important now.
Congratulations on the book! My advance copy just arrived, and it feels so good in hand…
Thanks, and yes it does feel good! We’re grateful to the 22 social entrepreneurs — all of them Ashoka Fellows, by the way — who contributed directly. And to the hundreds more we’ve met across the years who inform our thinking every day. This is, in other words, very much a collective effort.
Why is the book important now?
We live in extraordinary times, right? A pandemic, a hobbled democracy, an escalating climate crisis. Political attempts to solve these challenges often get stifled by partisanship. Yet social entrepreneurs all across the country work “under the radar” to get things fixed. They bring people from all walks of life together and move us all forward, building on the strengths and aspirations of communities everywhere. How they do this is a through-line of the book. As is their pragmatism in making things work.
The interviews are frank, personal, insightful — with many entry points for readers.
Yes. We ask questions such as: What do you wish everyone knew about the issue at hand? About the community you’re working with? What is the Right getting wrong? What is the Left getting wrong? What is the media getting wrong? And what should we all focus on instead?
Who do you hope to reach?
We address a few groups directly — journalists, public sector folks, philanthropists, aspiring changemakers. But anyone who is concerned about how the country is changing and curious about how social innovators navigate such moments will find actionable insights. Each chapter highlights a proven approach in areas that span economic prosperity, climate, racial equity, criminal justice reform, welfare reform, education, the future of work. We hope changemakers of all ages and backgrounds will feel energized and sparked, with some assumptions challenged, too.
The book will be out February 1st — next week!
Yes, published by Georgetown University Press. A fun fact: We had written a precursor of the book the year before, for the Unfinished Live conference in New York City. We’re grateful to Paula Recart, Frank McCourt, and our Unfinished Network partners for inviting and supporting the project. They understood that the mindsets and tactics of social innovators could help policymakers and all of us push past polarization, disinformation, mistrust. Feedback to the private publication was so overwhelmingly positive that we decided to find a publishing house.
And each of you brings your perspective to the project. Konstanze, you moved to the U.S. at the turn of 2014/15. How did your experience as a new immigrant inform the project?
My family and I arrived to a tumultuous time in the U.S. — we came when Obama was still President, but then witnessed the election campaign, Trump’s victory in 2016, and the chaos that ensued. Naturally, the news was dominated by stories about things that were broken, opinions that would not square, and factions that would not get along. But at the same time, thanks to my work with Ashoka, I got to see another reality: communities and leaders across the U.S. figuring out solutions to problems, bringing people together, building new models, better systems — but they weren’t in the limelight. We wanted to change that.
Michael, the book also draws on Ashoka’s “All America” strategy you designed and led with our colleague Simon Stumpf.
Yes. Starting in 2015, we doubled down on a commitment to find and support the full diversity of social innovators across the U.S., the full spectrum of ideas — beyond those that might be easiest to spot in San Francisco or New York City. Early on, we were talking and writing about this as an opportunity to “redraw the map” of social entrepreneurship, but geography was just part of a bigger picture. Our learnings from All America lead straight to this book. I mean, change is happening everywhere, good ideas are emerging everywhere, communities are stepping up everywhere. As Baratunde Thurston says on the book jacket: “These stories should be filling our news feeds.”
True! And for each of you, an especially memorable moment or takeaway?
KF: Mmm… it’s really hard to say, but okay, here are three. First, my interview with Casey Woods about gun ownership. I had prepared quite well to be sensitive, and still, I used words that could be perceived as polarizing right from the get-go. Read up! Second, the conversation with Angelou Ezeilo in which she unravels the relationship between race and space, and explores why it is a privilege to roam around freely in public spaces, from Central Park to Yellowstone. Third, my conversation with Mauricio Lim Miller about how biases of middle and upper classes undermine many good intentions to fight poverty — a critique of the Left from the Left, so to say. Fascinating.
Oh, and one more highlight: Collaborating with illustrator Lennard Kok on the Fellows’ portraits! Our wonderful design colleagues at Felicidad brought him into the project, and it was a real gift. We’d spotted his illustrations in the New Yorker and the New York Times.
MZ: Agreed — and for my part, I was struck by the incredible range of solutions making our economy work better for everyone, from the first chapter on mutualism, to employee ownership, to efforts to grow widespread prosperity in the Mississippi Delta and the heart of Appalachia. Wealth inequality is a major challenge of our time and Ashoka Fellows are right at the center, more relevant than ever.
Also memorable was my final interview with Nick Tilsen, who grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He shared that he and his colleagues, all Native American leaders, had recently reflected on the question: “What if our best days are ahead of us?” Let that settle — it’s powerful. I came away from our conversation thinking what might shift if we all reflect on Nick’s question, lean into that mindset. In a way, the book invites us to do just that.
Last question for you both. In the introduction and afterword, you call attention to social entrepreneurs as role makers — why is that important?
Everyone loves a good role model, right? And the social entrepreneurs in the book are surely that. But they are much more. They invite others to participate, to contribute. They create roles and on-ramps and pathways for the rest of us to become changemakers and engage meaningfully with the problems of our time. In a way, this is the big story.
So, another way to read “the power of communities everywhere,” in the subtitle, is “everyone a changemaker.”
Yes. And trusting and supporting those closest to the problems to find solutions is a central theme in the book. It’s also a core insight of Ashoka for over 40 years, here in the U.S. and around the world.
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You can explore America’s Path Forward and pre-order here. Georgetown University Press offers bulk discounts for aligned organizations, educators, students, book clubs, and more. Should you wish to explore bulk orders or have ideas for distribution, do reach out to us: explore@ashoka.org
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