This means reimagining the way people access and experience City services from a whole-family perspective and redesigning the system of support around families like these:
.svg)
Two-Generation (2Gen) programs and policies engage families as a single entity, rather than targeting children or adults in isolation. The result of this coordination and mutual reinforcement is that positive outcomes for one generation reinforce outcomes for the other. 2Gen is a powerful approach for helping families achieve multi-generational prosperity when it is tailored to what families need most and at key moments. For some families, this means helping adults attain medium-skilled employment and kids thrive in high-quality early childhood education. For others it means helping grandparents access the knowledge and financial support to become caregivers again and supporting kids with mentors that have experienced similar challenges.
Getting started on anything new is hard. But for families that can only remember being poor, the psychological impacts can be particularly severe: the prospect of becoming prosperous often can feel like a ridiculous notion and pursuing it seems likely to lead to disappointment.
Building agency starts with internalizing two narratives: The belief that a different future is possible and the belief that “I” as an individual have the capability to influence that future.
Because moving out of poverty is often a lengthy and complex road filled with ambiguity and setbacks, building internal agency is a crucial first step on a path to prosperity.
There are four main levers we can use to provide people with the emotional means and support they need to take ownership of their paths and build their
own futures.
Replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones...
Create space and permission to dream...
Map the way to big dreams using small steps...
Invest in a culture of dignity...
.svg)
Even with a vision for a better future,
it’s hard to go the distance alone.
Time and again we heard from New Yorkers about how the support of friends and family—both big and small—made a difference in how families survived and succeeded.
We also saw how people that lacked these networks and had to rely on themselves exclusively, had virtually no ability to absorb a shock and no leeway of any kind to invest in the activities and resources that would help them progress. People need social capital—healthy peer networks and the resources they contain.
Emotional Support
Practical Advice & Assistance
Logistical Support
Financial Safety Nets
Access to Resources & Opportunities
Access to Information
The most immediate barriers to families pursuing economic mobility are the most concrete: the lack of time and money needed to invest in themselves. Some of these obstacles are easily overlooked but for families that budget down to the dollar, a couple bucks for the subway can be the difference between being able to get to a training program consistently or not.
Less obvious are barriers embedded in the system itself: requirements that make sense in isolation but but actually result in incentivizing opposite behaviors then what is intended when they are layered on top of one another. For instance, caregivers living in shelters need to supervise children, making it challenging to meet work hours requirements and impossible to pursue the training needed for a livable wage job.
.png)
