Americans don’t just need relief; we need a bold plan. We need a plan that is grounded in vision for equity that is supported by the best data available. We need something that can move us from recovery to sustainability. We need something rooted in the future, informed by lessons from the past. In other words, we don’t want to just build back better; we want to build to last.
The newest analysis from the Urban Institute on the impact of President Biden’s stimulus package shows promising results, including the ability to cut poverty rates in half. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University has similar projections. There is a lot to love about this economic package — from the focus on education to having a place-based approach — but the details in how it is executed matter. The current plan is an important step, but it is not the finish line.
While it is vital to address immediate emergencies to provide stability to families, we also need to be able to step back and address the systems that brought us to the moment of desperation. Charitable or stop-gap solutions will never solve the structural problems of injustice. Building to last means understanding the root causes of inequity and how to transform the systems that creates the conditions to begin with.
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