As we continue our “Join or Die” year—exploring how we build lives of connection and belonging inside a polarized America—we’d be remiss if we didn’t turn our attention to the neighborhoods and the city where we live our lives.

Too many of us live in neighborhoods plagued by rising crime, school violence, family disintegration, addiction, alienation, and despair. Even the wealthiest neighborhoods are not immune; while poverty exacerbates these challenges, they exist in zip codes rich and poor, rural and urban, and everything in between.

Our special guest Seth D. Kaplan is an expert on fragile states across the world, consulting for the World Bank, U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as developing country governments and NGOs. His new book “Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society One Zip Code at a Time” brings  Seth’s experience overseas to our social decline in America—and Tallahassee— to revitalize our local institutions and the social ties that knit them together. The program is facilitated by John Baker of Neighborhood Affairs with the City of Tallahassee. We are grateful for the support of James Madison Institute to make this program possible. Learn more about their work online here.

Pick up a copy of Fragile Neighborhoods by swinging by Midtown Reader (or you can click here ).