Promoting Economic Mobility of Clients Through Identifying Leverage Points in the Atlanta Community Food Bank Partner Network

Abstract

Residents in the City of Atlanta, Georgia have experienced some of the lowest economic mobility in the country in recent years (Brookings, 2015), meaning that a residents’ zip code has direct implications on their potential economic self-sufficiency. The Economic Opportunity Project explored the notion that the more exposure children have to certain neighborhood characteristics, the less economic opportunity those children will have in the future (Chetty et al., 2017). The challenge of Atlanta’s consistent poor performance in economic mobility has major implications on the livelihood and health of those who live in certain disadvantaged neighborhoods as well as implications on the economic competitiveness of Atlanta. There are more nuanced inputs in the economic mobility equation than just considering household incomes; understanding how poverty operates as well as the existence of pathways out of poverty both play a role in changing the trajectory of Atlanta’s economic mobility. One way that has yet to be explored is how we can reimagine current anti-poverty organization networks, particularly food banks and their role in poverty alleviation.