Note from the editor.

For the past few years, the winter issue of the National Civic Review has focused on National Civic League programs, two in particular, the All-America City (AAC) award and the MetLife Foundation Ambassadors in Education (ALE) program. Both of these programs have tremendous value to those who are interested in the question of how citizens work together to improve their communities and tackle difficult problems. They unearth many stories worth telling.

AIE is a relatively new addition. It was started in 2004, but AAC goes back to the heyday of photo magazines. Look, in fact, was a co-sponsor of the award from 1952 until 1971, when it folded (the magazine, that is, not the award program, which continues to flourish). The next ACC competition, June 17-19 in Tampa, will be the sixtieth. We are encouraging former winners and other civic types to attend and celebrate this milestone.

In the old days, Look assigned their award-winning photographers and writers to document the award-winning community improvement with a photo essay written in breezy, general-interest magazine style. During the 1950s, Look had circulation figures in the millions, the second highest readership among general interest large format magazines in the United States. Life was first and the Saturday Evening Post was third.

I sometimes have envious fantasies about those days. Not just the circulation figures, but the experience of producing a photo essay of these remarkable communities and the remarkable people who organize, manage, and support their award-winning programs. The same could be said of the AlE winners and their equally impressive stories of dedicated ...