The day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks destroyed New York's World Trade Center, civic leaders began to organize four coalitions that aimed to give ordinary citizens a chance to meet, to heal, and to be heard in rebuilding decisions. This book tells the inside story of the civic renewal movement they founded, including their motives, their methods, the obstacles they faced, and the lessons their five-year effort offers for the future. Using participant observation as a leader of these civic renewal efforts, interviews with thirty-six civic leaders, and data from public archives, this book is all those who are interested in public decision-making, democratic participation, and the question of whether ordinary citizens' voices were heard in Lower Manhattan rebuilding decisions after 9/11.