About Me

I'm founder and President of the Institute for the Study of Civic Values in Philadelphia, which has worked for more than 30 years to strengthen our commitment to America's historic civic values through building community, expanding economic opportunity, and broadening citizen participation in all aspects of the democratic process.

I served as a City Councilman at Large in Philadelphia between 1984 and 1987 and Directed Philadelphia's Office of Housing and Community Development between 1987 and 1992. I served as Director of Philadelphia's Tax Reform Commission in 2003.

My activism extends back to the early 1960's, when I got involved in Civil Rights and Student Movements at Oberlin College.

In 1967, I led a national movement for Student Power as national President of the United States National Student Association.

I was among the first activists on the Left to use the Internet as a vehicle for organizing. This still represents an important part of what I do. Check out the Institute's web site at http://www.iscv.org or the PhillyNeighborhoods web site for community activists in Philadelphia at http://phillyneighborhoods.org.

I've written two books--"Will the Revolution Succeed" in 1973 and "NetActivism: How Citizens Use the Internet" in 1996--and lots of articles along the way. I still write regularly for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

On the side, I play jazz piano with a group called the Reading Terminals in Philadelphia because we play at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market the 2nd Friday of the month.