Before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Bruce Katz argues that in order for America to make progress toward alleviating poverty and growing a strong and resilient urban middle class, a primary concern must be places of concentrated poverty, neighborhoods where 40 percent or more of the residents are poor.
![Delores Leonard (C) walks her daughters Emmarie (L) and Erin to school before heading to work at a McDonald's Restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, September 25, 2014. Leonard, a single mother raising two daughters, has been working at McDonald's for seven years and has never made more than minimum wage. Picture taken September 25, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - GM1EAAH1LMV01](https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20191113_metro_low-wage-workforce-blog.jpg?quality=75&w=500)
Workforce Development
To lift the American economy, we need to understand the workers at the bottom of it
Commentary
Task Force on Work, Poverty and Opportunity
June 2, 2006