This booklet is designed to help people in Maine communities organize on a local level to address one of the main goals of the America 2000 program, that all children will start school ready to learn. The booklet suggests that this goal is more complicated than it first appears and that its meaning can vary, depending upon the perspective from which it is viewed. Meeting this complex and important goal will require more than a master plan developed by a few community leaders and government officials. Members of local communities who care about children must come together to identify the problems of and the possibilities for helping children succeed in school. An appendix outlines ideas for organizing community groups, including: (1) ways for group members to get acquainted, set goals, and examine beliefs; (2) suggestions to stimulate discussion, such as storytelling and the sharing of interpretations; (3) the use of systems metaphors, such as the metaphor of a garden to visually assess how past, current, and future programs have budded, flowered, and withered; (4) the use of storyboards to examine and work with forces that support or obstruct specific goals; and (5) ways to evaluate the success of the group. (Contains 21 references.) (MDM)