There are three elements that comprise the American Spirit Initiative's approach. Click each to learn more..

• First Element
• 
  

  The first element of this approach is to organize people and organizations including the faith community that have the passion, energy and resources to make a difference. By organizing these various constituencies we build strength and momentum focused on common objectives.

  A significant body of evidence has been developed that demonstrates that faith based organizations are more successful in helping people. Faith based initiatives seek to address the underlying problems that social organizations often miss. Faith based groups are trying to help based on their faith, not because it is their job.

• Second Element
• 
  

  Second, Information technology is the industry that can be the foundation for this endeavor. As our society and economy increasingly become information based, opportunities for technology oriented employment increases. The trend for technology jobs moving off-shore can become an economic driver for this concept in Appalachia. The lower costs of doing business can be passed onto clients thus minimizing the cost differential between doing business with American firms compared to those in India and other countries.

  Our culture has also evolved to a place where it is realistic to train people trapped in this area of the country. Technology in our schools has eliminated the "technology mystic" and developed a segment of the population that has an aptitude for a technology career. With proper training they can become employable as programmers, testers, help desk assistants and other functional IT areas. These people would not only be highly productive but their salary costs would be lower than a non-Appalachian area due to the lower cost of living in this area. These facts further support the ability to provide an American based resource to the off-shore trends.

  The majority of the revitalization efforts to date have centered on rebuilding the primary metals and pottery industries which were the economic foundation in many areas for decades. Recognizing that this only builds false hope, we need to identify a new industry or service area that can fuel economic revitalization as well as sustain it for years to come.

• Third Element
• 
  

  Thirdly, this vision requires a "social entrepreneur" with the passion, knowledge, and a desire to effect a positive change in an economically distressed area. The job of a social entrepreneur is to recognize when a part of society is stuck and to provide new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading a society to take new leaps. A social entrepreneur is not content just to provide a fish or teach how to fish; he or she will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.

  Identifying and solving large-scale social problems requires a social entrepreneur because only the entrepreneur has the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when they solve a client's problem. The manager calls it quits when they have enabled their organization to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities and societies. (Ashoka Fellows)