The national culture is riven with unmitigated conflicts, and international tensions seem endless and unstoppable. In this environment, many America ns have turned their attention and energy to local issues, forging unique alliances across political barriers, rebuilding cultures, reviving economies and nurturing communities. Philanthropy has started to support that shift in focus, and institutions from farms to schools are benefiting from early effects of the change. Some of this changed perspective is the result of feeling left behind by the pace of technological advances, another part is the result of a sense that personal identities are being challenged by the focus on national and international issues, and yet another aspect is a consequence of concern that one’s local community has lost control of its own institutions, such as schools and small businesses. By changing their focus to local matters, American citizens and consumers are starting to reconstruct society from the bottom up.