Confronting Suburban Poverty in America

It has been nearly a half century since President Lyndon Johnson declared his War on Poverty, setting in motion development of America's modern safety net. Back in the 1960s, tackling poverty "in place" meant focusing resources in the inner city and in isolated rural areas. The suburbs were home to middle- and upper-class families ?affluent commuters and homeowners who did not want to raise kids in the city. But the America of 2012 is a very different place. Poverty is no longer just an urban or rural problem but increasingly a suburban one as well.

In Confronting Suburban Poverty in America, Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube take on the new reality of metropolitan poverty and opportunity in America. For decades, suburbs added poor residents at a faster pace than cities, so that suburbia is now home to more poor residents than central cities, composing over a third of the nation's total poor population. Unfortunately, the antipoverty infrastructure built over the past several decades does not fit this rapidly changing geography. The solution no longer fits the problem. Kneebone and Berube explain the source and impact of these important developments; moreover, they present innovative ideas on addressing them.

The spread of suburban poverty has many causes, including job sprawl, shifts in affordable housing, population dynamics, immigration, and a struggling economy. It raises a number of daunting challenges, such as the need for more (and better transportation options, services, and financial resources. But necessity also produces opportunity ?in this case, the opportunity to rethink and modernize services, structures,and procedures so that they better reflect and address new demands. Thisbook embraces that opportunity.

The authors put forward a series of workable recommendations for public, private,and nonprofit leaders seeking to modernize poverty alleviation and community development strategies and connect residents with economic opportunity. Theydescribe and evaluate ongoing efforts in metro areas where local leaders are learninghow to do more with less and adjusting their approaches to address the metropolitanscale of poverty ?for example, collaborating across sectors and jurisdictions,using data and technology in innovative ways, and integrating services and servicedelivery. Kneebone and Berube combine clear prose, original thinking, and illustrativegraphics to paint a new picture of poverty in America as well as the best waysto combat it.

Elizabeth Kneebone is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the BrookingsInstitution.

Alan Berube is a senior fellow and deputy director at the Metropolitan Policy Program.