The Pierceview People’s Health Coalition (PPHC) was concerned. The obesity rate among Pierceview’s children was over 25% and climbing, and the food in the school cafeterias wasn’t helping any. Almost everything on the menu was either deep-fried or loaded with sugar, or – in the case of frosted donuts, for instance – both. PPHC, made up largely of health professionals, with a few concerned citizens, decided to launch an anti-obesity campaign, with a focus on healthier school lunches. With high hopes, members of the organization put ads in the local paper, approached school officials, and developed healthy menus. They thought they had everything covered, but they weren’t prepared for the community’s response, which was resoundingly negative. School officials brushed off suggestions about changing the cafeteria menus with talk of budget constraints, the unfairness of making schools responsible for something that should be the domain of parents, and the fact that the children liked the cafeteria food. (“It reminds them of McDonald’s,” one principal said.) Parents protested that their children weren’t fat, or that it was only baby fat that would disappear with adolescent growth. And besides, they thought the cafeteria food was fine – it was just like what they ate at home. Discouraged, PPHC members complained about community apathy, about schools shirking their responsibility to teach healthy habits, and about parents who weren’t concerned about their children’s long-term health. “I guess this community just isn’t willing to take care of its children,” one long-term health activist moaned. “There’s nothing we can do.”It’s probably a fair bet than none of us would ask a five-year-old to pilot a jetliner, or hire a high school student to run a Fortune 500 company. Given time, knowledge, and experience, they might be able to perform those jobs well, but they’re simply not ready yet. We know and accept that in such obvious cases as these, yet we often expect communities to respond immediately to issues without the time, knowledge, or experience necessary to understand and address them effectively. This section is about how to understand – and measure – exactly how ready a community is to address a particular issue, and how to use that knowledge to stimulate community change.