The Wealth of the Poor

How Valuing Every Neighbor Restores Hope in Our Cities

Larry James appeared to be exactly where he was supposed to be--ministering with a large, suburban Dallas church. So why would he accept an invitation to direct a food pantry in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Dallas? What sealed the decision was something his wife, Brenda, said: "Larry, if you really believe all the things you've been tellling us all these years, you need to take the job." So after fourteen years of preaching, he did.

One day in the food pantry, Larry asked a woman named Josefina to help translate Spanish. She had come for assistance, but Josefina ended up helping Larry that day, and the next. Josefina came back the next day for nine years.

Since that day two decades ago, Larry has been asking neighbors like Josefina to help solve their own problems, and this new way of serving side by side has transformed a small food panty into one of the largest non-profit food distributors in the world. The organization--now called CitySquare--also develops housing for the formerly homeless and manages health clinics and community medical outreach in economically depressed and under-served places like East and South Dallas.

This is an organizational success story you expect to see in the Wall Street Journal, and yet it is like no other. Larry's journey provides the platform from which he provides a practical, theological, market-savvy manual written for those who serve and invest in the work of urban transformation.