The Just Communities Blog

The map hasn’t changed. Now what?

Median income. Third grade reading. Health insurance. If you've seen any of our presentations over the past decade, you know the punchline is always the same: every map of metro Atlanta looks the same. Over time, the geography of advantage — and disadvantage — barely moves.



At some point, we have to stop admiring the problem* and be much more intentional and proactive about driving regional change, especially if we’re going to take on economic mobility..



🪜 Economic mobility isn't just one problem. It's a set of compounding issues — access to basic needs, social capital, thriving neighborhoods, quality education, rewarding work, and wealth-building pathways – that are experienced by families in different ways. Economic pain doesn’t care about our sector siloes, so we have to learn to work as a more cohesive system.



🤝 Regional change requires collective action. No single entity or sector can do it alone. Metro Atlanta hasn’t had the best track record mobilizing across sectors and communities to tackle a priority issue. We haven’t often agreed on what those priorities even are. Given our regional economic mobility crisis, this is the moment to understand the barriers and pathways to inform more potent regional action. Regional.



⚗️ And the solutions aren't simply programmatic adjustments. Solutions that strengthen our fragile sector will take many forms: stacking existing solutions where they’re needed most, leveraging non-traditional funding models, policy change, and new operating paradigms. We need to creatively leverage our existing assets.