The Brookings Institution’s State of Metropolitan America Report exposed a surprising economic trend. Poverty in the suburbs, areas traditionally thought of as wealthy, grew at a rate of 25 percent between 1999 and 2008. That’s almost five times faster than the increase in poverty in cities. The suburbs are now home to almost of a third of the people living in poverty in America. With today’s panel we look at what that means for urban policy, attempts to end poverty, and the communities living in cities and suburbs in America.
Reverend Alan Traher, Pastor of the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Glen Burnie, and the co-chair of BRIDGE, a congregation-based organization that works for social change.
Dr. Bernadette Hanlon, Research Analyst and NSF IGERT Program Coordinator at the Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education at UMBC, and author of Once the American Dream: Inner-ring Suburbs in the Metropolitan United States, and Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the US.
The Marc Steiner Show currently airs on The Real News Network. The show covers the topics that matter, engaging real voices, from Charm City to Cairo and beyond. Email us to share your comments with us.