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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@MDCincwww.mdcinc.org www.stateofthesouth.org