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Social Mobility in Rural America Insights from Communities Whose Young People Are Climbing the Income Ladder

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Social Mobility in Rural America Insights from Communities Whose Young People Are Climbing the Income Ladder A Field Report by National 4-H Council and The Bridgespan Group Social Mobility in Rural America Insights from Communities Whose Young People Are Climbing the Income Ladder By Mark McKeag, Mike Soskis, Luis Ramos & Bill Breen in collaboration with National 4-H Council and the Cooperative Extension System of our nation’s land-grant universities Collaborating to accelerate social impact November 2018 Table of Contents Letter from the President and CEO, National 4-H Council ������������������������������������������������������ 3 Foreword ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5 Executive Summary ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 7 Social Mobility in Rural America ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 10 Getting a Ground-Level View ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������13 Communities Whose Youth Are Advancing Economically ����������������������������������������������������16 Six Factors That Might Support Upward Mobility �����������������������������������������������������������������������������18 Factor #1: A high expectation that youth will “opt in” and work hard to acquire the skills to build a better future; a low tolerance for opting out ������������������������������������������������19 Factor #2: Strong, informal support systems, with neighbors helping neighbors ������ 20 Factor #3: An early focus on career pathways ���������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Factor #4: A wealth of opportunities for youth to build life skills, regardless of the community’s size ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Factor #5: Many potential challenges to accessing opportunities, but creative solutions for overcoming them ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Factor#6: A sense of shared fate and a deep commitment to sustaining the community ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28 Building Inclusive Communities ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 32 Beginning to Test Our Findings in Rural Counties With Average Social Mobility ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 33 Six Questions for Moving Forward ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 38 Looking Ahead �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������40 Acknowledgments ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������41 Appendix: The Geography of Rural, Upwardly Mobile Youth ������������������������������������������ 42 Support for this report was provided in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation� The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation� 2 Letter from the President and CEO, National 4-H Council Building pathways to economic opportunity for America’s youth has always been 4-H’s focus—and that includes those young people growing up in rural communities� This has been the subject of our research over the past year: to understand the local factors that help young people in rural communities grow up to achieve a higher standard of living—factors that other rural communities might build on� 4-H is America’s largest youth development organization, with roots that have grown deep and wide across rural communities in the last 100 years� 4-H was founded on the belief that when kids are empowered to pursue their passions and chart their own course, their skills grow and take shape, helping them to become true leaders in their lives, careers, and communities� With programs delivered by the Cooperative Extension System of our nation’s land-grant universities, 4-H cultivates youth voice and nurtures youth leadership� Because of our scale, our history, and our deep connection to rural communities, 4-H is uniquely positioned to examine rural social mobility and the critical role of youth in driving change� While there has, of late, been renewed interest in the health of rural communities, we do not consistently see the voices of young people themselves included as a critical part of these conversations� Through 4-H’s experience, we have learned that each community’s most powerful asset for growth and development is its young people� This important work with The Bridgespan Group starts from this premise, exploring social mobility from the perspectives of youth themselves, and the adults who support them� Many of this report’s findings echo Cooperative Extension’s experience� A hundred years ago, the technologies that now drive our $1 trillion agriculture industry (USDA estimate) were new—and farmers resisted them� But 4-H educators believed in the power of our nation’s youth just as much as they believed in those new methods� They armed youth with the skills and knowledge to educate their parents, build their communities, and drive upward economic mobility� We are gratified to see this philosophy reflected in the most successful communities of today’s rural America� Cooperative Extension’s approach to community and youth development has never been top-down—we know that all communities have strengths and assets to help their young people climb the income ladder� However, many communities have a longer, harder pathway due to deep-seated historical and environmental barriers� 3 Today’s 4-H is more diverse than ever, reaching young people in every county, parish, and borough across America’s urban, suburban, and rural communities� And when it comes to lifting youth voice and building upward economic mobility, rural and urban areas are more alike than they are different� By offering the highest quality programming and supportive environments, 4-H helps to ensure that ALL youth— regardless of race, gender, or residence—have the potential to become leaders� We do this work not only on behalf of young people—but also to raise their voices through it� President and CEO National 4-H Council 4 Foreword By Karen Pittman, Co-Founder, President, and CEO, The Forum for Youth Investment Work hard, get ahead� That is the “American Dream�” However, according to economist Raj Chetty, this dream has not been a reality for almost 50 years, when getting ahead is defined as being better off than your parents were at your age� In 1970, when I was entering college to prepare for my career as a sociologist focused on bridging youth development research into policy and practice, 30-year-olds had a 90 percent chance of achieving this milestone� Today, it’s a coin toss� As a Black woman who grew up in Washington, DC, I know that urban young people of color have always struggled with upward mobility� But, as this report makes clear, the path upward is also a challenge for young people in rural America, where economic opportunity varies greatly, even within the same state or region� The barriers to upward mobility are similar to those in urban areas: poverty, racial barriers, underinvestments in education, limited job options� But what about the solutions? This is the question that National 4-H Council and The Bridgespan Group set out to answer� Their findings are relevant not only for rural America, but for all of us� Believing that the answers to the question could only be fully revealed through discussions with youth and adults in rural America, the research team made a bold decision� They dug in deep to look for common success factors in rural counties whose youth are upwardly mobile� This decision had one obvious drawback that the team recognized: none of the approximately 200 rural counties in which at least a quarter of the population is Black ranked in the top quartile for upward mobility, and only two ranked in the top half� This fact is not surprising� But it does raise the question of whether the findings from this study are relevant for more racially and ethnically diverse communities� I believe that they are� The study, which is richly filled with quotes and examples from the extensive listening tour, identified six common factors that seem to help rural young people advance, all of which reflect social capital rather than economic capital� These are communities in which adults—teachers, parents, business owners, neighbors, and health and social service professionals—worked together to ensure that all young people were known and supported� The Bridgespan team interviewed approximately 100 young people� Many said they were provided with early and ample opportunities to build life skills, have jobs, explore careers, and take leadership roles�
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