Because we need to see reasons to have hope, too . . .

As a part of Judy Woodruff’s “America at a Crossroads” series on PBS News Hour, this segment features San Bernadino, California to discuss the problem of declining communities that were once thriving. Woodruff interviews not only locals to the southern California city east of Los Angeles, but also James and Deborah Fallows, whose Our Towns journalism project and subsequent book highlight the state of America’s mid-sized and small cities and towns. The Fallows once covered San Bernadino as writers for the local newspaper.

This segment’s focus is the need for people to invest in themselves and to regard community organizing as a viable solution. Here, we see a man who uses his boxing gym to help young people with everything from meals to tutoring and an artist has organized a public art project. Other subjects that are covered briefly include the need to diversify a local economy instead of relying on one or two big employers.