Our Cities: Fueling America’s Destiny     

A metropolitan nation, sixty-five percent of American’s live in just the 100 largest metropolitan areas, which produce seventy-five percent of the gross domestic product. Key functions of national prosperity occur in metropolitan areas, including the shipping of goods at ports and airports that support global trade and the research at urban universities that generate technological and medical breakthroughs.

Given today’s economic and social climate, the nation’s future depends on recalibrating urban and metropolitan strategies to focus investments in infrastructure and human capital.

American Latinos and the Nation’s Future     

American Latinos are the nation’s fastest growing segment of the population, the largest minority group, the youngest segment of the population, and the most rapidly increasing proportion of the middle class. The Latino trajectory of progress is vital to the nation’s future.

The difference between Latinos as a marginalized population or Latinos as full contributors to the workforce and to economic prosperity will be a critical determinant of America’s competitiveness and social stability. It is essential to act now on strategies to fully integrate Latinos into the mainstream of American life.

Immigrants: An Essential Ingredient for A Strong America     

In today’s world, immigrants represent a higher proportion of the nation’s population than any time since the early 1900’s. Their contributions are not only substantial, but they are essential to a strong American future. Immigrants contribute prodigious intellectual assets, youthful workforce skills, and the raw energies of determined people.

The United States must reform its dysfunctional immigration framework, but go beyond that to formulate national initiatives to fully integrate immigrants so that the nation can have the immense benefit of their talents.

Smart Growth: Developing the Economy, Infrastructure, and a Sustainable Future     

The engine propelling the American economy, the strategic development of infrastructure and metropolitan areas fosters research breakthroughs and entrepreneurial energies and can help address environmental and energy challenges. Thoughtful innovations in the applications of technology, building materials, land use planning, mass transit and community design can make the country more efficient, livable, and sustainable. Applying smart growth strategies to will usher in a new global economy making the country more attractive and socially cohesive enhancing the population’s quality of life.

Independence for America’s Seniors     

Staying home, aging in place, is most people’s preference, but most American housing and communities are not adapted to the needs of older people. With the fastest population growth among people over 65, finding solutions for successful aging is important not only for individual families, but for all of society. Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros assess the current state of housing and present new possibilities that realistically address the interrelated issues of housing, communities, services, and financial concerns.

Facing Up to Cancer: One Man’s Journey     

Henry Cisneros still talks about housing and urban development and the ways cities and immigrants can help the country thrive. But he also talks about cancer – his experience with prostate cancer. With over 240,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed a year, Cisneros wants to talk about cancer. A difficult subject for everyone, Cisneros knows how important it is to talk about cancer and wants to encourage men, and women, to see their doctors, ask for blood tests, and have annual exams. He believes that opening up this dialogue is not only important but potentially life saving.

Housing: A Platform for Uplifting Families     

A home is a place to live and is the largest expenditure most American’s undertake. But it is also an essential dimension of an uplifting life. It is a platform for education, self-improvement, work, health, and for stable family cohesion. The nation needs strategies that go beyond thinking of housing as four-walls of physical shelter to policies that support affordable living in nurturing communities for persons at every stage of life.

The Essentials of Successful Leadership for the 21st Century     

The tectonic plates undergirding our society are shifting rapidly. The significant changes are generational, multicultural, technological, environmental, and economic. They require new ways of exercising leadership in the key institutions of our society: business, governmental, religious, educational, and civic. Leadership must be inclusive, respectful of diversity, consultative, capable of sharing a vision of progress, flexible, and responsive.