Hire a hillbilly -- the easy thing to say but the difficult thing to do unless you're also going to mentor that hillbilly into a successful career. OTOH, paving a path so that someone with roots in poverty can have the social mobility needed to achieve more -- THAT is something possible but requires focused efforts during early childhood and continued opportunities into adulthood. At the high school level, adolescents are still a bundle of high potential and with mentoring, paid internships, scholarships, and social support, they can vault into another level of success beyond that which their families have achieved before
Jeremy Burton
almost 5 years ago
Co-Founder @ Moby
The solution lies in 1) cutting living expenses and 2) giving young people ownership of assets
My startup's housing allows you to cut your biggest expenses, housing, to $15/day and rewards renters for paying on time with shares of our housing.
Brand & Strategy Consultant @ DBH Consulting
I read Hillbilly Elegy a few years ago and it's still a worthwhile read on this topic. The Brookings Institute touches on some important issues regarding social mobility here https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/09/01/if-you-read-hillbilly-elegy-you-should-read-this-paper-too/
Hire a hillbilly -- the easy thing to say but the difficult thing to do unless you're also going to mentor that hillbilly into a successful career. OTOH, paving a path so that someone with roots in poverty can have the social mobility needed to achieve more -- THAT is something possible but requires focused efforts during early childhood and continued opportunities into adulthood. At the high school level, adolescents are still a bundle of high potential and with mentoring, paid internships, scholarships, and social support, they can vault into another level of success beyond that which their families have achieved before
+ Mentorship programs
+ Paid internships
+ Scholarships
+ Consistent social support