Episode 6: Change the Narrative

In arguing that changing the narrative is a critical strategy in fostering mobility from poverty, the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty notes that “the narratives we use to make sense of the world shape our attitudes and ultimately the policies we devise and endorse”. On the final episode of this season of J-PAL Voices we hear how summer jobs programs are changing the narrative for their participants.Angela Rudolph in Chicago tells us that young people are just waiting for us to see them and invest in them. Julia Breitman in New York City is firm in her conviction that the desire to be agents of their own change exists in every young person. Summer jobs programs are not the silver bullet and it is too much to expect them to dismantle systemic inequalities. But they are a valuable part of fostering mobility from poverty and giving young people the tools that they need to solve conflict and develop the soft skills that will serve them well in the long run. 

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Links:

• “Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job”, interview by Nico Pitney with Father Greg Boyle (webpage)