The Extraordinary Transformation of a City and Its Schools—Part 2: Renewed Hope Leads To Tangible Change

AllSuccess Stories
Written By Ken Futernick

Episode Notes

In Part 1, we heard how Reading, Pennsylvania, began to turn outward—listening to families, students, and educators to rethink what their school system could be.

In Part 2, we see what happened when a new mindset and civic culture shifted from data gathering and healthy conversation to concrete action.

Host Ken Futernick and Rich Harwood, founder of the Harwood Institute, return to trace three major initiatives that are reshaping life for students in the Reading School District—and changing how the community relates to its schools.

You’ll discover how:

  • After-school programs came back into school buildings after years of being kept out, transforming schools into safe, vibrant hubs where students can learn, eat a hot meal, and connect with caring adults.

  • Youth and families themselves shaped these programs—from asking for more experiences and field trips to naming something as basic as food as a barrier to participation—leading partners like Centro Hispano and Communities In Schools to step in with thousands of daily meals.

  • A new English as a second language network grew from simple church dinners into a citywide web of support, helping parents gain the confidence to talk with teachers, support their children’s learning, and fully participate in school and community life.

  • Faith communities adopted schools, not by deciding what they would offer, but by asking principals, “What do your students and teachers need?”—and responding with practical support, from tutors to winter coats.

  • Early childhood leaders, backed by a major grant, made a courageous public “U-turn,” shifting from adding more childcare slots to building demand and awareness so that more families see high-quality early learning as essential to their children’s success in school.

Throughout the episode, educators and community partners describe how these efforts are changing the district’s relationship with the city it serves. Schools are no longer expected to shoulder every problem alone; instead, they’ve become the center of a shared project, with nonprofits, churches, funders, and residents working alongside them.

Rich and Ken also step back to ask: What does this mean for other communities that want to strengthen their own school systems—whether they’re in deep crisis or simply trying to move from good to great? Drawing on Reading’s experience, Rich offers four practical mantras for getting started: turn outward, get in motion, start small to go big, and build a “trajectory of hope.”

This is the story of a school system being rebuilt not just from the inside out, but from the outside in—one partnership, one program, and one act of listening at a time.

Download a free study guide and find related resources for this series at schoolconversations.org/reading and theharwoodinstitute.org/reading.

Link to Study Guide:

DOWNLOAD THE STUDY GUIDE FOR THIS SERIES

The free Study Guide distills the key lessons from Reading and offers practical steps for leaders anywhere to begin turning outward—listening more deeply, building small wins, and strengthening civic culture one action at a time.

DOWNLOAD STUDY GUIDE

Key Learnings

  • Part 1, 06:38–08:04 and 15:16–17:35) 

    When Rich Harwood and his team first came to Reading, they didn’t start with a plan — they started by listening. They talked to residents in both English and Spanish and asked simple, open questions like: “What are your aspirations for your community and your kids?”

    “Not a single individual mentioned issues that you would hear in the culture war debates. What they talked about was where their community was, where they wanted their community to go.” — Rich Harwood (Part 1, 07:10)

    The first thing that people had to do was not to develop plans. It was not to go out and find more money. It was not to run some kind of regression analysis. It was not to look at best practices from some other community, all things that we all do reflexively and religiously in trying to create change in communities. They did something different. They stopped. They decided that they're going to have to go and engage more people more deeply around their agenda items… and really deeply understand what it was that really mattered to them. – Rich Harwood (Part 1, 15:30)

    Example: Residents identified nine shared priorities related to education — none of them rooted in partisan or ideological issues.

  • (Part 1, 09:40–12:08)

    Before the Harwood initiative in Reading, many civic groups, nonprofits, and schools were fragmented and working in silos. Pastor Steve Ohnsman described it this way:

    “We were all doing good work, but in silos… six people doing the same thing, redundancies everywhere.” (Part 1, 12:50)

    “The difference with the work … with Harwood is we saw something we all wanted. They brought so many agencies together, they brought community members together. They put us all in one room and said, Let's figure it out. That was a starting point of unleashing the impact here.” - Migdalia Garcia (Part 1, 14:16)

    Why does this happen? When under stress, people hunker down and look inward — protecting their turf instead of collaborating.

    Example: The United Way, Centro Hispano, school district leaders, and local faith groups moved from getting together to working together, reducing duplication and aligning efforts around what really mattered to people. What emerged were teams that began focusing on after-school programs, providing support for residents for whom English was a second language, and strengthening early childhood education programs. 

  • Part 2, 25:23–27:36)

    Instead of crafting comprehensive plans, Reading’s leaders focused on small, visible wins that proved progress was possible.

    “Resistance starts to go away when people see proof that things are actually happening in a different way.” — Rich Harwood (Part 1, 26:18)

    “Start small to go big. Look, I want big systemic change like we created in Reading, but it all started in small ways. So release yourself from the burden that you have to create big, comprehensive change overnight and just focus on one small thing that you can get moving on, and use that as a way to catalyze a larger, ever-growing chain reaction of efforts over time. – Rich Harwood (Part 2, 30:24)

    Examples: Schools opened their doors for after-school programs to come back in. ESL programs launched in churches. Each small win built trust and momentum.

  • (Part 1, 17:35–21:00)

    When Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Murray first saw the Harwood community report, she felt defensive.

    “It hurt. It stung… But then I came back the next day and decided to read it as a launchpad to help us do better.” (Part 1, 19:47–20:56)

    “To Dr. Murray's credit, she's one of the braver leaders I've worked with…She listened to us, she listened to the community… She stayed at the table and kept engaging.“ Rich Harwood (Part 1, 20:56):

    Murray’s willingness to stay engaged — to move from defensive to open — became a model for other leaders.

    Example: Murray reframed school buildings as “the community’s buildings” and encouraged principals to share space for after-school programs.

  • Part 1, 13:38–14:16)

    Pastor Steve Ohnsman put it plainly:

    “It seems like people always want credit. When you want credit, it’s hard to share the limelight.”

    The turning point came when organizations realized that lasting progress required shared responsibility.

    Example: Education, civic, and faith leaders began celebrating group success instead of individual recognition, shifting the focus from ego to impact.

  • Part 2, 26:31–28:16)

    In just a few short years, hope had become visible again.

    “The more people that want to join in, the more contagious it becomes, the more momentum you build.” — Rich Harwood (Part 2, 27:50)

    When I asked people What are you creating here? They said we are creating a new sense of pride in a community that had lost pride, that we're creating a new sense of hope in a community that had lost hope. – Rich Harwood (Part 2, 26:31)

    “Seeing folks who have seen our work want to get involved is enough for me to say that they're hopeful for our future.” - Migdalia Garcia (Part 2, 27:36)

    Example: Partnerships among schools, families, and nonprofits sparked new energy — parents and families came back into the community, groups worked together in new ways, and a new trajectory of hope began to take hold in Reading.

Related Links:

Featured Guests:

  • Ken Futernick is the host and producer of Courageous Conversations About Our Schools

  • Rich Harwood is the President and Founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation.

  • Ashley Chambers is the Senior Vice President of Community Impact at the United Way of Berks County.

  • Karen Rightmire is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Wyomissing Foundation.

  • Laura Cordero is the Director of Community Impact at Centro Hispano.

  • Dr. Jennifer Murray is the former Superintendent of Reading School District.

  • Migdalia Garcia is the Director of Programs for Communities in Schools of Eastern Pennsylvania.

  • Dave Myers is the Executive Director of the Berks Alliance.

  • Michael Toledo is the President and CEO of Centro Hispano.

  • Steve Ohnsman is the Pastor of Calvary United Church of Christ in Reading, PA. 

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The Extraordinary Transformation of a City and Its Schools—Part 1: Building a New Civic Culture