What Do Cities Think Will Alleviate Poverty?

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City officials were presented with a list of poverty reduction strategies and asked which they believed would be most effective in their city not necessarily strategies being implemented. They werethen asked how much capacity their city currently has for implementing each strategy. Two strategies were viewed as both effective and within the city’s capacity to implement: 1) focusing on economic development to bring more businesses and jobs into the community (89% say effective; 89% say their city has capacity to implement) and 2) strengthening neighborhoods by making them safer, enhancing services, and improving infrastructure (86% and 88% respectively).

At the top of the list for perceived effectiveness (91%) was creating better lives for the next generation by improving schools and children’s lives, but only 57% feel this is within the city’s capacity. Eighty-eight percent of elected officials say improving the lives of people through access to social services, job training, and child care would be effective, but only 61% say they have capacity to implement this strategy.

Over half of city officials (53%) say their current approach to addressing poverty is through specific programs, such as social services, housing and transportation. And 35% say it is addressed through other institutions and organizations with little city government involvement. While only three percent say the city has a comprehensive strategic, municipal plan to address poverty, a much larger proportion (28%) says this would be the most effective approach for their city. (Report from the National League of Cities)

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