Glossary of Key Terms in the Mobility Action Learning Network
Assets: They may include research and analytic capability, staff, financial resources, political clout, key relationships, strong connections to community members, fundraising capacity, experience creating a narrative change campaign, convening power, knowledge of data-informed decisionmaking, or involvement in racial equity efforts.
Government partners: They may include staff from city, county, state, tribal, town, or US territory. They may also include other organizations and agencies, such as public school systems, housing authorities, economic development agencies, and regional planning authorities.
Local leaders: People in positions to assert influence and effect change in the policies and practices of a community where they reside. They may include government officials as well as business, civic, and community leaders.
Local mobility challenge: A specific issue preventing the upward mobility of residents in a community. It should cross-cut multiple policy domains.
Mobility Metrics: A set of 26 specific metrics that represent key predictors of upward mobility. The selected metrics can be influenced by local and state policies and programs and used to help communities establish priorities, set targets, catalyze action, change policies and practices, and monitor their progress.
Nongovernment partners: They may include nonprofits and community-based organizations, advocacy groups, philanthropy, collective-impact groups, research organizations, academic institutions, private-sector, and individual community members.
Planning Guide for Local Action: An Urban Institute’s guide designed to support local leaders to better understand impediments to upward mobility and build a cross-sector team that can plan, advocate, and implement a set of systems changes focused on bringing all members of a community out of poverty and creating more equitable results. Access the Planning Guide here.
Racial equity: What would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted one’s outcomes (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Racial Equity Resource Guide, https://www.racialequityresourceguide.org/.)
Structural racism: The historical and contemporary policies, practices, and norms that create and maintain the dominant position of white people in US society and perpetuate inequities among people of different races.
Systems change: A fundamental shift in practices, underlying values, or norms that reshapes policies, processes, relationships, and power structures.
Upward mobility from poverty: The ability for people and families experiencing poverty to achieve and sustain increased economic success, power and autonomy, and a sense of being valued in their community.
