As Tocqueville explained, Americans have the habit of forming associations to handle public problems. Crain's Detroit Business has a case study:
Two Detroit businessmen who have children with autism are making the rounds of companies and foundations to drum up financial support to open a multipurpose autism center.
Dave Meador, CFO of DTE Energy Co., and Stephen D'Arcy, global automotive leader with PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. and chairman of the Detroit Medical Center, have formed the nonprofit Autism Alliance of Michigan as the vehicle to develop the center.
Last month, Susan Fenters Lerch was hired as CEO of the Autism Alliance. Lerch previously worked for 13 years at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan.
Meador and D'Arcy both have autistic offspring and have faced difficulties first in identifying and diagnosing their problems when they were young and then finding appropriate education and medical therapies.
