Mayor's Book Club, Burlington, North Carolina Livability in Action

Serious Books Smart Talk Strong Community

To encourage discussions about important issues and provide ways for people of all ages to spend time together the mayor of Burlington North Carolina leads a monthly book group

Photo courtesy City of Burlington Mayor Ian Baltutis (back row center, wearing a solid blue shirt) and members of his Mayor's Book Club holding copies of "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," by J.D. Vance and Stephen R. Covey's "The Leader in Me: How Schools Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time." When was campaigning door-to-door to become the mayor of Burlington, residents raised issues important to them. Invariably, someone would mention a book relating to the topic of his or her discussion. Baltutis kept a running list so he could read the books when he had time. After becoming mayor in 2015, he launched the so residents could read a selected non-fiction book and talk about how it relates to life in Burlington. The books can be checked out from the . Baltutis — who was re-elected in 2017 — leads the monthly discussions, hosting both a lunchtime session (which rotates among different city restaurants) and an evening gathering at a local brew pub. When the club read , residents were joined by staff and volunteers from the local food pantry and homeless center. An ex-convict from a nearby residential program took part in the club's discussion of Bryan Stevenson's , a book about the prison system. With , by journalist Sam Quinones, the city's police chief and a drug enforcement officer attended. For the discussion about , author Mark Hatch joined the conversation via Skype. Discussions last about an hour, with participants usually staying on to socialize. In addition to the book list Baltutis accrued from the campaign trail, reading choices come from members of the community and library staff. Fittingly, Mayor Baltutis gets the final vote on what Burlington's book club participants will read.

The Reading List

In addition to the five titles noted in the photo caption and text above, Mayor Ian Baltutis's book club in Burlington, North Carolina, has read and discussed: by Ta-Nehisi Coates

by P.M. Forni

by Stephen S. Cohen and J. Bradford DeLong


by C. Eugene Steuerle

by Eric von Hippel

by Daniel Pink

by Peter Kageyama

by Brad Feld

by Bill Bishop

by Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley

by Enrico Moretti

by Stephen M.R. Covey

by Mindy Thompson Fullilove

by Jeff Speck This article is adapted from the "Community Engagement" chapter of the AARP book . Download or order your free copy. Reported by Sally Abrahms Page published November 2017

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