Cities and Economic Mobility: What It Takes to Jumpstart Progress

Source: Medium Published: July 31, 2020

More and more Americans find themselves stuck in place, unable to build a better economic future — and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis. Cities across the country, however, have been stepping up to find ways to tackle this challenge and create greater opportunities for their residents, even before the pandemic. But not all approaches that cities try are equally likely to lead to positive economic mobility outcomes and, without ways to evaluate what is and is not working, cities miss important opportunities. The What Works Cities Economic Mobility Initiative was created to help fill this gap.

Launched last year with an inaugural nine-city cohort, the initiative gives cities the opportunity to experiment with evidence-informed strategies for accelerating economic mobility for residents. Strategies focus on those policy areas that have a robust evidence base for their impact on improving economic mobility outcomes, including: education, economic stability, workforce development, and safe, affordable housing.*

But how do cities build the case for a specific idea? How do they design an intervention with local partners? And how do they evaluate its impact?

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