What does the geography of poverty in America look like today? Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube analyze new Census Bureau data and find that the nation’s suburbs accounted for the majority of increases in the U.S. poor population following the onset of the pandemic. Of the 1.5 million person increase in Americans living below the poverty line from 2019 to 2022, more than 60% occurred in suburbs. As the latest data makes clear, American poverty remains a growing suburban challenge, and solutions to overcome it must take root there as well.
As the transition to a cleaner, more resilient U.S. economy continues to gain speed, a lack of skilled workers to power the green transition threatens to stall momentum, write Joseph W. Kane, Adie Tomer, and Anna Singer. The authors detail how local government and business leaders can leverage federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act programs to support new green workforce development approaches and achieve historic economic returns in the process.
Last month, the Biden-Harris administration released the first-ever National Climate Resilience Framework, intended to help the U.S. become a climate-resilient nation that is “able to cope, adapt, and evolve in the face of current and future climate conditions.” Brookings experts on topics ranging from climate change and infrastructure to the future of work, economic development, housing, and land-use policy provide their quick takes on key aspects of the framework.
Next week, Brookings Metro will host an online event in partnership with the Latino Policy Forum examining the Latino wealth gap and how to close it. The event will highlight the findings from an upcoming report on Latino wealth, assets, and debt in six states (Illinois, California, Texas, New York, Florida, and North Carolina). The event will also feature remarks from Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), as well as a panel of experts discussing why regional diversity matters for understanding Latino wealth and how to close the wealth gap through policies that build assets, eliminate debt, transfer intergenerational wealth, improve access to financial networks, and promote income and job stability.
How the federal government should build local governments’ capacity for addressing disasters. As climate change increases disaster exposure across more U.S. places, more local governments must be prepared to manage the intricacies of responding to losses of life and property, write Carlos Martín, Carolyn Kousky, Karina French, and Manann Donoghoe. The authors outline six ways in which federal policy can assess and build capacity across a wider range of communities to promote more equitable, effective, and efficient disaster response.
Young Americans are struggling to gain economic ground. Building a better school-to-career pipeline can help. There is an urgent need to develop more and better options for young people to ensure they achieve financial security as they navigate their way into adulthood, Martha Ross says. Based on findings from her recent research with Child Trends, Ross offers several ways in which governors, mayors, superintendents, and their partners can improve young peoples’ outcomes throughout the education-to-employment pipeline.
There’s an industrial revolution underway. Unless we act, it will make the racial wealth gap even worse. A new industrial revolution is being fueled by massive public and private investments spanning infrastructure upgrades and a domestic reshoring of advanced manufacturing, Xavier de Souza Briggs, Charisse Conanan Johnson, and Bruce Katz explain. Thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises are needed to supply goods and services to the government or major firms receiving government contracts or subsidies. The authors highlight how scaling a range of successful models could help address the supplier pipeline challenge and generate huge economic and social payoffs.
Boston’s high school dropout rate fell by more than half. Here’s their blueprint. Recognizing that dropping out of high school has countless downstream effects for students and entire communities, Boston launched one of the first municipal efforts to re-engage dropouts back in 2006. Martha Ross and Emmanuel Allen detail the impacts of Boston’s approach and explain why other cities should follow its lead.
Multi-phase place-based economic policies can enhance the nation’s development capacity. Examining evidence from two recent federal competitions, Glencora Haskins, Joseph Parilla, and Mayu Takeuchi argue that multi-stage application processes and enhanced federal collaboration represent promising strategies for creating more vibrant and inclusive regional economies across the nation.
Five roles communities need for implementing once-in-a-generation federal resources. Joseph Parilla and Glencora Haskins survey staffing decisions from winning regional coalitions in the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge program. The authors identify five key roles that that can inform wider approaches to bottom-up, place-based economic development.
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