Equality of Opportunity & Upward Mobility in America 4

This concludes our series of a recent study that will help you improve your income

Lorna lived a life of poverty with her two children. Her rent subsidized apartment was in a very distressed area of the community. Lorna entered the circles initiative in her local community. She took an 18 week class teaching her how to get ahead. Then, they assigned 3 middle class allies to meet with her 1-2 times a month for 18 months. Soon, Laura started achieving her goals. She earned her GED. She got a driver’s license. She found a job with a company that would pay for her to attend training to certify as a nurse’s assistant. She found new housing and moved out of poverty.

How Circles Mirrors Harvard’s Study

Circles, a national initiative to eliminate poverty, incorporates many of the corresponding elements of Harvard’s study on Upward Mobility. The Circles Initiative

• Educates people in poverty the written and unwritten rules of society
• Provides a weekly environment for people in poverty to associate with people from the middle and upper class
• Identifies middle class and upper class people to serve as allies who help the circle leader achieve their goals to improve housing, employment, education, and money management
• Connects the circle leader with resources and information from the community to help them list themselves out of poverty

All of these steps mirror the factors identified by Harvard’s study:

• Strong education K-12 programs in the community
• Large middle class populations without a high population of highest 1% population
• Lack of segregation between living of poverty and middle class populations.
• People in poverty and middle class interact together
• Strong religious communities and families

Circles successfully helps people out of poverty. They understood the principles before Harvard published their results.

Education and Upward Mobility

We must increase educational support. The study

“We found significant correlations between intergenerational mobility and income inequality, economic and racial residential segregation, measures of K-12 school quality (such as test scores and high school dropout rates)”

Friday we will discuss findings of the July unemployment report form the Department of Labor

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