Disrupting Inequality: Design Thinking for Upward Mobility

Last week, we celebrated the launch of Living Cities’ latest interactive annual report Disrupting Inequality: Living Cities’ Perspective in 2013. Living Cities is an innovative collaboration among 22 foundations and financial institutions committed to improving the lives of low-income people and the cities where they live.

This year, the Living Cities report is focused on bridging the gaps in income, education and jobs that many Americans face. All of these inequities decrease the possibility of upward mobility and feed the cycle of poverty. At its core, Living Cities works to re-imagine long-standing approaches to public systems like education, workforce development and transportation.

We see the Living Cities approach as a showcase of the ways design thinking, collaboration and creativity can vastly improve quality of life. By catalyzing collective impact for public benefit, the Living Cities team has provided access to scholarships in Seattle, leveraged data for civic engagement in Louisville, united over 80 cities through the Strive Network and much more.

There is a growing recognition that equitable access to resources and opportunities is a key issue of our time. Living Cities is leading this movement and we could not be more proud to support their groundbreaking work in social impact.

Check out Living Cities’ interactive annual report at disruptinginequality.livingcities.org/ and join the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #disruptinginequality.

Photo by Jim Nix.