It’s been two years since Atlanta was reminded of its economic mobility challenges. That’s when new data showed Charlotte improved its ranking among U.S. cities, moving from No. 50 to No. 38, with greater opportunities for its residents to move up the economic ladder.
Atlanta, meanwhile, remained at the bottom of the rankings from 2014 to 2024. Local leaders say improving the city’s ranking will require bold, intentional action and a willingness to confront hard truths around personal agency, and even the limits of relying on the goodwill of others.
On March 26, Atlanta Way 2.0 hosted a panel of nonprofit leaders in education, civic engagement and workforce development to discuss social capital and how to grow economic opportunity for young people from moderate and low-income households. Social capital in this context would be people connecting across different economic backgrounds.
The event, Forging Pathways: Cradle to Career, was held at Atlanta Metropolitan State College and co-hosted by Ann Cramer, an Atlanta civic leader and chair of Atlanta Way 2.0, and Kamau Bobb, senior director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech.
“Everybody here is essentially dedicating their life to what is possible, but what do we really believe is possible?” asked Bobb, who is also Atlanta Way 2.0’s vice chair. He added that he sees a collective “quiet inertia.”
The panelists agreed that access to quality education and persistent gaps in outcomes continue to limit economic mobility later in life.
A 2025 Learn4Life report on the state of education in metro Atlanta highlights both the issues. The region has enough high-quality early education seats for only about 40 percent of the children who need them. Third-grade reading proficiency declined to 38 percent in 2025 from 40 percent in 2015. And while high school graduation rates rose to 87 percent, the share of graduates earning a degree or credential within five years fell to 27 percent in 2023 from 31 percent in 2015.
The report also found ongoing disparities in academic outcomes among students across racial groups. In 2024, 69 percent of white students and 65 percent of Asian students were proficient or above grade level in third-grade English language arts, compared with 31 percent of Black students and 26 percent of Hispanic students, all reflecting slight declines from 2019. The findings show how early education, academic achievement and postsecondary attainment are closely tied to long-term economic mobility.
Economist Raj Chetty, whose Harvard research group produced the rankings for U.S. cities, has found that less segregation among residential communities is a key driver of upward mobility. In a 2016 TEDx Talk, he compared metro Atlanta with Sacramento, which has similar racial demographics but ranks higher. In 2024, Sacramento ranked 23rd among U.S. cities in upward mobility.
The panelists said progress will require both consistency and a willingness to rethink how systems operate.
“This is hard work overtime,” said Mindy Binderman, founding executive director of GEEARS. “We have to be ready to change and listen and believe and share what’s working, and share what’s not working.”
Organizations and leaders “can’t be afraid to fail,” she added.
Taylor Ramsey, executive director of OneGoal Georgia, said social capital includes strengthening self-efficacy and helping students understand their value within existing networks.
“I don’t think enough students have enough opportunity for deep mentorship, especially at the high school level,” she said.
At the institutional level, Bobb said universities such as Georgia Tech must examine their own role. Georgia Tech has one of the lowest proportions of Pell Grant students, he said, raising questions about access.
Additional panelists included Blythe Robinson of Sheltering Arms, Che Watkins of Braven, Jaque Joyce of CareerRise, Ken Zeff of Learn4Life, and Cheryl Watkins-Harris of Achieve Atlanta. Mike Carnathan, co-founder of Neighborhood Nexus, also provided insight.
Milton Little Jr., president and CEO of United Way of Greater Atlanta, was in the audience and was asked to comment on Atlanta’s ongoing economic mobility challenges.
Little said the solution is not about relying solely on philanthropists and other well-meaning donors.
“How do we have intentional policies that make sure that a social right is social capital,” he said.
Little continued, “This is about how we make decisions about scarce resources, how we decide what’s a public right, what’s a social right, what’s a human right,” he said. “And until we begin having that conversation, we risk losing another generation of kids.”
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