Summary

America has many underprivileged citizens in cities and rural areas who don’t have the skills and resources to succeed in the market. This has led to many social dysfunctions including depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, crime, suicide, and broken families. It’s time to stop ignoring this problem and tackle it head on.

Key Recommendations

Training

Work with the private sector to create training programs for underprivileged people. These programs should include remedial high school education, training in personal finance and money management, vocational training in a skilled trade, and business ownership and entrepreneurship education.

Opportunity

Expand President Trump’s successful Opportunity Zones program to better ensure that low-income individuals are appropriately benefiting from economic development in blighted areas.

Entrepreneurship

Work with the private sector to create a microfinance program to provide loans and investment capital to poor and socially marginalized entrepreneurs to help bootstrap local businesses in depressed areas. Microfinance programs have been a success in helping poor entrepreneurs in Africa. They can work in American cities and rural areas too.