Decrease Poverty and Increase Opportunity

The recession, the mortgage crisis and the volatility in the financial markets have placed enormous stress on working families, while at the same time making it more difficult to find the necessary support for programs that will make work pay, reduce poverty and increase opportunity for every American.

On November 24, Brookings senior fellow Rebecca Blank offered policy solutions and priorities for the president-elect to make greater investments in economic opportunity, and increase future economic mobility for today’s poor children. She addressed diverse strategies that include expanded preschool education, greater support for post-secondary schooling, greater support for two-parent families, expanded assistance to low-wage workers, and propose the establishment of an effective measure of poverty to better understand the nature of the problem and to measure future progress.

The memo is the third of 12 Brookings memos on the most crucial public policy priorities facing the new president.