Our Day to End Poverty

In early 2005, Jeffrey Keenan, an Adobe executive, passionate about ending global poverty came to Criterion with an idea to write a book about what average Americans can do to take action on poverty beyond making charitable donations. Criterion engaged a collaborative book team: writer, editor, and publisher, and managed the process through design, marketing strategy and delivery of the book. Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference was launched to booksellers nationwide by Berrett Koehler's BK Currents division in May of 2007 (available here from Amazon.com). Filled with specific facts, resources for learning more, and hands-on action items, Our Day to End Poverty is a resource guide designed to help anyone leap into action on a host of poverty issues in creative ways that can make a real difference. Our Day makes a perfect resource for idealistic graduates or employees on a volunteer day. The book is a great gift for socially conscious friends and works beautifully in book club or youth group settings.

Our Day to End Poverty is the result of a uniquely collaborative process. The "book team" comprised five of us, each with a particular but dynamic role. Jeff Keenan, after witnessing the juxtaposition of prosperity and poverty while working in Asia, sought to discern the contribution he could make to help end poverty. He engaged in conversation with Joy Anderson, president and founder of Criterion Ventures, about the roles individuals play in social change. They realized that there was a need for the global poverty equivalent of the environmental book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth by the EarthWorks Group. Joy set about assembling a team. Shannon Daley-Harris came on board to write the book, drawing on her decades of U.S. and international work with and on behalf of children. Karen Speerstra, a longtime publisher, joined the team to edit the book. Jackie VanderBrug, Criterion Ventures' managing director, brought insight and ideas to the process and the book's form and content.

Operating within this book team was like learning a new dance. Although it wasn't always graceful, we were always surrounded by grace. Before Shannon even wrote the first word, we spent many hours on the phone, discussing the unique contribution our book could make, planning its organization, and sharing research information on a secured website. Throughout the months that she wrote and revised the chapters, team members provided suggestions and edits. We invited others - more than a hundred experts in different fields - to help us refine the chapters and give us new ideas for practical actions.

The book further benefited from Berrett-Koehler's collaborative approach, which offered us insights from their staff and reviewers. In the end, two years of work went into creating an accessible, practical, and above-all straightforward guide designed to help people concerned about poverty take action. We hope that each reader will become inspired to maximize their own impact on the larger effort to eradicate poverty in our lifetime.

To learn more about how the creative process worked, visit our case study on the process here (link to case study).  Learn more about the book at http://www.ourdaytoendpoverty.com/.