Putnam, with the assistance of co-author Lewis Feldstein, who has a long and distinguished career in civic activism, visited a number of places across America where individuals and groups are engaged in unusual forms of social activism and civic renewal. These are people who are renewing their communities and investing in new forms of 'social capital.' Approximately a dozen such stories of civic innovation are told in this book. They range from a mentoring and reading programme in Philadelphia that brings together retirees and primary school children to a revitalised neighbourhood association and revitalised neighbourhoods in Boston to a successful community organising effort in the impoverished Rio Grande Valley, and many other such stories. All across America such organizations are starting up and thriving, giving hope that the message of BOWLING ALONE has reached people and that civic institutions are taking new forms to adapt to new times and new needs.