Giving Compass' Take:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has identified fives areas where they plan to expand access for individuals living in poverty so that more opportunities for economic prosperity will be available. 

• How can the Gates Foundation work to understand how barriers to economic opportunity affect different parts of the population based on social identity factors? (i.e. race, ethnicity, geography, economic status)

• Learn about the barriers of geography when it comes to increasing economic mobility. 

Our U.S. work began two decades ago with a program to help U.S. public libraries offer free internet access. From there, we expanded into investments to improve U.S. education: first K-12, then higher-education, and, in a few states, preschool. Our experience doing this work has taught us that many of the greatest barriers to opportunity occur outside the classroom.

There are no simple answers to reducing poverty, but we’ve identified several issues that limit Americans’ ability to live productive, dignified lives.

Our strategic vision is to ensure there are more actors at all levels committed to dramatically increasing mobility from poverty over the next decade, and to provide better information and tools so they can be even more effective and efficient. We believe we can play a catalytic role by investing in data and evidence that close knowledge gaps and lay the groundwork for improved outcomes and new opportunities for leaders from the public, private, non-profit, and academia sectors to work together to achieve even greater impact.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is launching our work on U.S. economic mobility and opportunity with a commitment of $158 million over four years to help lift more Americans out of poverty.

We have identified five areas where we hope to help others expand and extend their work:

  1. Closing Data Gaps
  2. Empowering Local Actors
  3. Improving Coordination and Leverage
  4. Analyzing the New Economy
  5. Increasing Public Understanding

Read the full article about creating access to opportunity and mobility at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation