About Us

Welcome to Moving Up. This blog is a product of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Social Mobility Project. Our goal is to create a space for a respectful policy discussion on poverty and social mobility. We hope that this site will serve as a tool for those who work in policymaking at the federal, state and local level, as well as for those who are interested in creating a society in which everyone can achieve the American Dream.

We believe that the next steps in poverty reduction and social-mobility policy for working families must build from these pillars:

• Strong families. For America’s children, intact two-parent families are the most reliable bulwark against poverty. Children growing up in single-parent households are six times more likely to be poor than those growing up with two parents. They are also more likely to develop emotional problems, drop out of school, have children as teenagers, and get in trouble with the law. The United States must redouble efforts to reduce teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births, which have shown a slight uptick lately after declining by about a third in the late 1990s. We must do more to promote responsible fatherhood and draw public attention to the strong correlations between marriage and economic sufficiency.

• Work and personal responsibility. A job is still the best ticket out of poverty. However, many entry-level jobs do not pay enough to help families obtain what most Americans would consider a minimally decent living standard. Public policy, therefore, must remedy the defects of labor markets by subsidizing low-wage work through programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Policymakers must also address the barriers to work that prohibit many from moving up the career ladder, including the lack of affordable and competent childcare; the dearth of public transportation in many communities; and the complicated and inefficient system of government supports.

• Better education. America faces no greater moral challenge than narrowing the educational achievement gap between middle-class students and their low-income counterparts. The place to begin is at the beginning: PPI has long advocated a universal early-learning system for three- and four-year-olds. PPI also was an early champion of public school choice and public charter schools, as well as national efforts to hold schools accountable for educating all students. Today we must expand, not limit, the scope of choice, innovation and customization in public education. Furthermore, we must ensure access to college and life-long training so that every American has an opportunity to acquire the skills necessary for global competition.

• Economic assets. With so many Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, a lack of financial assets is a major barrier to upward mobility for low-income families. Progressives must concentrate on closing the wealth gap as well as the income gap. The next round of poverty reduction must include a greater commitment to financial literacy; increased opportunities for asset-building among low-income individuals; a strengthened system of retirement savings; and an increase in both homeownership and affordable rental housing.

• Good health and well-being. Health problems are more widespread among low-income families. All too often, the poor lack sufficient access to nutritious and affordable foods, or safe areas for exercise and recreation. In addition, the unavailability of preventive-health clinics, substance-abuse programs, and mental-health counseling all impede the well-being of the disadvantaged—and limit their chances of upward mobility.

• Safe Neighborhoods. Poverty and crime are inextricably linked. Residents of high-crime neighborhoods find it difficult and sometimes impossible to create better lives for their families. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to engage in criminal activity later in life, and ex-offenders often return to lives of crime because they lack access to legitimate economic opportunities. Therefore, in order to help all Americans up the income ladder, creative efforts to prevent crime and to reintegrate ex-offenders into lives of productive citizenship are essential.

Welcome to the discussion.

About the Editors

Katie Campbell
Policy Analyst, PPI/DLC

Katie Campbell serves as a policy analyst for the DLC/PPI. Previously, she worked as a fellow for Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL), assisting with education, housing, budget and rural poverty issues. Campbell also has worked as health policy research assistant for the Georgetown Public Policy Institute and the American Cancer Society’s National Government Relations Department.

A native of Montevallo, Alabama, Campbell received a masters’ of public policy from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute with a concentration in social, family and education policy. She earned her bachelors’ degree in communications from the University of Alabama.

Will Marshall
President, PPI

Will Marshall is president and founder of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), a center for policy innovation in Washington, D.C. Established in 1989, PPI’s mission is to modernize progressive politics and government for the 21^st century.

In 1985, Marshall helped to found the Democratic Leadership Council, serving as its first Policy Director. In that capacity, he worked with Members of Congress and other elected officials around the country — including Bill Clinton, DLC chairman in 1990-1991 — to establish the DLC as the premier forum for policy and political debate within the national Democratic Party.

Called “Bill Clinton’s idea mill,” PPI’s policy analysis and proposals were the source for many of the “New Democrat” themes that figured prominently in national politics during the 1990s. The Institute also has been integral to the spread of “Third Way” thinking to center-left parties in Europe and elsewhere. Marshall serves on the board of Policy Network, an international think tank launched by Tony Blair to promote progressive policy ideas throughout the democratic world.

He is editor of many books, most recently With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Featuring leading Democratic experts on national security, this anthology presents a comprehensive, progressive alternative to the Bush administration’s “war on terror.”

Marshall also edited Building the Bridge: 10 Big Ideas to Transform America (Roman & Littlefield, 1997) and co-edited Mandate for Change (Berkley Books, 1992), PPI’s best-selling policy blueprint for President Clinton’s first term. He has written on a wide array of political subjects, including defense and foreign policy; civic enterprise and national service; welfare and family policy; new models for governing; and, race and affirmative action. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and many other newspapers, as well as The American Prospect and other policy-oriented journals.

Marshall also is a member of the Washington, D.C. Public Charter School Board, which oversees 34 innovative “public charter schools” serving nearly 15,000 students in the nation’s capital.

The Washingtonian magazine has said this of Marshall:

“A University of Virginia graduate and former Richmond-Times Dispatch reporter, the wily Marshall plots ideas campaigns the way Robert E. Lee mapped strategy for the Confederates. His small but nimble “New Democrat” think tank, an arm of the Democratic Leadership Council, has kept “Old Democrats” off balance with a fusillade of proposals to reform traditional party thinking on welfare and other issues.”

Marshall’s previous campaign and political experience includes posts as press secretary, spokesman and speechwriter for the 1984 United States Senate campaign of former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, speechwriter and policy analyst for the late U.S. Representative Gillis Long of Louisiana, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus; and, spokesman and speechwriter in the 1982 U.S. Senate campaign of former Virginia Lt. Governor Dick Davis. In addition, Marshall was senior editor of the 1984 House Democratic Caucus policy blueprint, Renewing America’s Promise.

Before becoming involved in politics and public policy, he was a journalist in Virginia, including a stint with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1952, Marshall is a 1975 graduate of the University of Virginia, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History. Marshall and his wife, Katryn S. Nicolai, live in Arlington, VA. They have two children, Olivia and William.

Mark Ribbing
Director of Policy Development, PPI

Mark Ribbing joined the Progressive Policy Institute as Director of Policy Development in May 2007. He draws upon his experience in government and journalism to write and edit policy materials across a broad range of subject areas.

A native of Missouri, Mr. Ribbing attended Yale College, where he graduated in 1992 with a major in history. He then earned a juris doctor degree at Columbia Law School, with certification from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law.

After serving as a lawyer and editorialist for the Lehman Communications Corporation, a Colorado newspaper group, Mr. Ribbing joined The Baltimore Sun in 1997 as a reporter covering the deregulation and expansion of the telecommunications and high-technology industries.

In April 2001, Mr. Ribbing became a senior speechwriter for New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, serving through the end of the administration on the final day of that year. He then returned to his original hometown of St. Louis, where he joined the staff of the city’s Democratic mayor, Francis Slay.

As a special assistant to Mayor Slay, Mr. Ribbing worked as a speechwriter and crime-policy aide, and became involved in the administration’s deepening efforts to reform St. Louis’s public-school system. He left City Hall to focus on this vital issue, serving as a startup project manager for a public charter school in a disadvantaged neighborhood on the city’s north side.

Mr. Ribbing remained active in the field of education, both as a policy advocate and as a teacher. He has also worked as a writer and consultant for business and nonprofit clients, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United States Fund for UNICEF. His articles on politics and policy have appeared in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and TomPaine.com. He and his wife Rebecca live in Alexandria, Virginia.