Post on 21-Feb-2017
September 15, 2016
David DodsonPresident, MDC@MDCinc
Economic Mobility and Postsecondary Completion: The Imperative for Virginia
Source: New York Times map of Equality of Opportunity Project data
The American Dream is broken
Economic Mobility What are the chances a child raised in the lowest quintile of the income distribution will stay there or move to another quintile as an adult?
Source: Equality of Opportunity Project
41% 33% 38% 39% 38%
27%25% 27% 25% 28%
17%18%
17% 18% 18%
9%14% 11% 12% 11%
6% 10% 7% 6% 5% Upper quintileUpper middle quintileMiddle quintileLower middle quintileLowest quintile
How do mobility outcomes change with a postsecondary credential?
Education makes a difference
47%
26%
26%
37%
10%
16%
17%
10%8
%
3%
20
40
60
80
100
No College Degree
College Degree
Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts
Meet Lillian and Norris
• Personal drive• Culture of aspiration and urgency
within family and community• Launching-pad institutions that
developed confidence and skill• An economy that generated
opportunity for educated people
Common factors that advanced mobility for Lillian and Norris
• Prevailing commitment to racial justice and equity
• A strong Infrastructure of Opportunity
• Supportive public policy to make advancement universal—not selective
• What factors would you add?
What factors were missing?
What is your mobility story?
What factors helped or hindered it?
How do we make the factors that support upward mobility present and sustainable in the lives of people born and living at the bottom rungs of the income and opportunity ladder?
IncomeInequalit
y
Cultural Messages & Media Representation
Public Policies
Institutional Policies
Family Structure
Residential Segregatio
n Local School Quality
Social Capital
Race & Ethnicity
Location ofLiving Wage
Jobs
Transportation
The inside game and the outside game
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Phone: 919.381.5802Fax: 919.381.5805
@MDCincwww.mdcinc.org www.stateofthesouth.org