“Where are the Torah leaders in our fringe communities?”
There in fact have been some pretty amazing Torah leaders in ‘fringe’ communities. Rabbi Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Ephraim Greenblatt, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman, Rabbi Norman Lamm, Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel Twersky, and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik are some that come to mind who have served communities with few observant Jews. There are others.
However, there aren’t many young rabbis today who are willing to leave the big Torah centers in New York, Monsey, or Lakewood. Today only Chabad shlichim and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah graduates seem to be willing to go to where there aren’t frum communities.