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First published as "Shaping a great city through private responsibility" in The Indianapolis Star, May 5, 2011

Citizens of Indianapolis lost a very good friend this week.  Indeed, Richard Cornuelle’s death at the age of 84 closes one of the city’s richest stories.

A popular telling of Indianapolis’ turnaround begins with Dick Lugar’s mayoral tenure, his Unigov reform and the public-private partnerships that successive mayors leveraged to great gains.  Yet, civic innovation was already underway before these modern era reformers took office thanks to the pioneering efforts of two unlikely collaborators.

The first was an Indianapolis businessman named John Burkhart who created his wealth by co-founding College Life Insurance Company and later University Life Insurance.  A powerhouse in Republican politics, Burkhart eschewed elected office for himself preferring to use his business platform to benefit society.  He chaired the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and co-founded the Indianapolis Business Journal among other valuable civic contributions.

Burkhart was fond of saying “I like to be doing something concrete.  I like to have an actual job.  I like to be part of something that’s growing.”  These words resonated with Richard Cornuelle, a renowned New York City author who was interested in testing some of Burkhart’s theories in the real world.  Thus was born a partnership that changed a city and influenced a nation.

The two men believed that the mid-century growth of government was encroaching on communities and that the private sector could better solve many of society’s problems.  They conceived of numerous adventures to prove their point such as an affordable housing solution for inner-city Indianapolis residents.

Their most important project was an experiment to raise private capital for low income students to obtain college loans.  Frustrated with the poor performance of the federal student loan program, Cornuelle and Burkhart created a private corporation called the United Student Aid Funds (USA Funds).  Since 1960, USA Funds has helped more than 13 million students pursue college education.

Cornuelle’s first book, Renewing the American Dream, was released in tandem with the launch of USA Funds.  The book became a clarion call for free and responsible citizens to create caring communities through commercial enterprise.  Opposing big, top-down solutions, Cornuelle made the case that millions of small solutions, renewed daily in neighborhoods across America, contained the only reliable response to society’s needs.

In these words he was refreshing the observations made by Alexis de Tocqueville a century earlier.  He also coined the term “independent sector” to give legitimacy to the informal network of private voluntary organizations that gave so much shape to our American Experiment.  Today, there are 1.5 million nonprofit organizations creating one in 10 jobs in our economy.

Many of the problems that plague our city—high school dropouts, drug addiction, crime—are too big for any one sector alone.  Yet, there is no problem in America that is not being effectively addressed by a caring neighbor or a frontlines charity.  The legacy of Cornuelle and Burkhart proves that the creativity unleashed by business and free enterprise is also essential to problem solving.

Since the administration of Governor Ralph Gates (1945-49), each successive Indiana governor has bestowed the Sagamore of the Wabash award to the state’s most distinguished citizens.  The award name was selected to respect the state’s Native American heritage (“Sagamore” is an Algonquin term referring to tribal leaders who gave wise counsel to the chief) and to honor the contemporary leaders who shape our state’s destiny.

Sagamore Institute takes its name from the same inspiration and we are guided in our work by such Sagamores as John Burkhart and Richard Cournelle.  They understood that public was not synonymous with government.  Rather, as America’s founding fathers intended, public service means each of us taking responsibility for our communities.  That’s wise counsel for every generation.