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Boosting Upward Mobility
Creating and assessing the conditions that can propel people out of poverty and narrow racial inequities in communities. Inspired to learn more?
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The Metrics and Evidence
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Visit the sections below to learn more about the Urban Institute’s framework for boosting upward mobility, our research approach for identifying the metrics, and the evidence behind them.
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Mobility Metrics Framework
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Our framework provides a set of indicators representing key predictors of upward mobility. Local leaders can use these metrics to guide their efforts to increase mobility from poverty.
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Planning Guide
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Our recent publication, Boosting Upward Mobility: A Planning Guide for Local Action, provides a step-by-step guide for local government leaders to better understand impediments to upward mobility and build a cross-sector team that can plan, advocate for, and implement a set of systems changes focused on bringing all members of their community out of poverty and creating more equitable outcomes.
Meeting Them Where They Are: How St. Lucie County Used Data Walks to Prioritize Community Engagement The Urban Institute’s Boosting Upward Mobility cohort counties have adopted various methods, including convening advisory boards and conducting focus groups, to hear residents’ thoughts on what needs to change to help lift people out of poverty in their communities. In St. Lucie County, Florida, leaders opted for a community engaged research approach called a data walk.Nothing about Us without Us: Boosting Upward Mobility in Summit County Elected officials tend to view poverty as a purely financial issue. Often, plans to address economic inequality start with goals like growing small businesses, raising the minimum wage, or creating more jobs.One Approach to Cocreating Sustainable Mobility from Poverty While developing the three-part definition of mobility from poverty, the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty found that when people have power and autonomy over their lives, they are better positioned to create the kind of change they envision for themselves and their community.
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The Counties
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A cohort of eight counties across the country applied our framework to develop a plan for boosting upward mobility in their communities.
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About the Project
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Urban is measuring and building evidence on the key community conditions that have the potential to increase upward mobility and curb racial inequities.