Joe Maddon remembers what Hazleton, Pa., was like when he grew up. He calls his little town in the Pennsylvania hills, home to 25,000 people, "the best place in the world to grow up." But what was once a charming, blue-collar mining town built by immigrants has roughened over time. Crime has increased and the divide between Hazleton's English and Spanish-speaking communities has become a gulf. It is no longer the safest place for kids to be kids.
"I didn't like what I was seeing when I would come back to Hazleton. There was a definite disconnect between the Anglo side and the Hispanic side," Maddon says.