Local leaders across the country are working to help more residents build stable, thriving lives. The Urban Institute’s Upward Mobility Initiative offers research and practical tools to help communities understand local conditions and develop strategies that expand opportunity.

This virtual workshop will introduce key resources from the initiative—including the Toolkit for Increasing Upward Mobility, the Upward Mobility Framework, and the Upward Mobility Data Dashboard—and will explore how those resources can support communities that are looking to begin or enhance local efforts to advance mobility from poverty.

The session will walk through key foundational steps communities can take to launch or strengthen their local mobility efforts, such as assessing readiness, building cross-sector partnerships, using data to understand local mobility conditions, and engaging community members in planning and decisionmaking. Participants will also hear from local leaders who are doing this work in their communities, sharing how they’ve approached the work and answering questions from attendees.

Participants will:

• get an overview of the Upward Mobility Initiative’s key tools and resources,
• explore foundational steps for starting an upward mobility planning process,
• hear examples from local leaders about how they are approaching this work,
• discuss practical starting points for their own communities, and 
  hear about future learning and training opportunities.

Speakers

• Frank Cardella, Economic Mobility Director, United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg
• Shireen Malekafzali Taidi, Chief Equity Officer & Director of Economic Opportunity and Labor Standards, County of San Mateo
• Isabella Remor, Policy Program Associate, Urban Institute
• Joseph Schilling, Senior Research Associate, Urban Institute
• Enola-Riann White, Program Coordinator, Upward Mobility Initiative, Boone County Community Services Department