Through his research, as well as his experiences as a father, author Richard Kordesh has learned that families have suffered due to the loss of their productive capabilities. Understandably, society tends to focus on problems facing poor children, but it's clear that families of all income levels are in danger of becoming weaker-even to the point where many are being destroyed.

Restoring Power to Parents and Places: The Case for Family-Based Community Development provides a fresh perspective on the debate about the future of the family. It's also a useful guide for community builders, a practical resource for policy makers, and a tool that will empower mothers and fathers and their families. Kordesh blends his twenty years of experience as a community development professional, government official, professor, and father to describe how "the productive family" must be strengthened in order to sustain good communities for children. Kordesh shares a number of his suggestions to attain these goals, such as:

Creating more productive and powerful parent roles

Building communities that embrace family enterprises

Designing public policies that foster family-based community development

Breaking the liberal-conservative stalemate in the debate over the family

Reinvigorating American populism so that it refocuses on productive family institutions

Restoring Power to Parents and Places is a provocative analysis of the family's predicament and a serious call to action.