Bet on Vegas | Interview with Rich Harwood

Compassionate Las Vegas Podcast with Will Rucker

Rich Harwood President & Founder, The Harwood Institute Author, Speaker, Innovator After working on more than 20 political campaigns and two highly respected non-profits, Rich Harwood set out to create something entirely different. He founded what is now known as The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation in 1988, when he was just 27 years old. Soon after, he wrote the ground-breaking report Citizen and Politics: A View from Main Street, the first national study to uncover that Americans did not feel apathetic about politics, but instead held a deep sense of anger and disconnection. Over the past 30 years, Rich has innovated and developed a new philosophy and practice of how communities can solve shared problems, create a culture of shared responsibility and deepen people’s civic faith. The Harwood practice of Turning Outward has spread to all 50 U.S. States and is being used in 40 countries. Rich has invested his career in revitalizing the nation’s hardest-hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations and reconnecting institutions like newsrooms and schools to society. In Newtown, CT, after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Rich led the process for the community to collectively decide the fate of the school building. Rich is an inspiring, sought-after speaker, who regularly keynotes major conferences and events. He appears regularly on major media outlets. He has written four books, scores of articles and numerous groundbreaking reports. He’s also written numerous studies and articles that have appeared on national media including MSNBC, NPR, CNN's Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume and C-SPAN. Recently, he became a regular contributor to The Christian Citizen, a publication that provides thought on issues of justice, mercy and faith. Follow Rich t: @RichHarwood f: Rich Harwood Support this podcast