Local leaders tackle economic mobility at first-ever ‘Atlanta Way Day’

At the first-ever Atlanta Way Day, some of the region’s top leaders faced a big question: How did Atlanta become the lowest-ranked in upward economic mobility, and how can the region change it? 

Local nonprofit Atlanta Way 2.0 hosted the event as part of its push to “bring people together to understand issues.” SaportaReport’s founder, Maria Saporta, founded the organization, which is headed by a roster of local leaders from every part of the city’s landscape. 

“Then together, as the collective, we begin to make solutions for those hardest and toughest things that we as a community can identify that we haven’t quite figured out,” Board Chair Ann Cramer said. 

In its 2024 study, Harvard University’s Raj Chetty and his research group Opportunity Insights ranked Atlanta dead last out of the top 50 metro areas when it comes to upward economic mobility. 

Neighborhood Nexus founder Mike Carnathan didn’t sugarcoat the ranking. But he said the abysmal number is why people packed into the Tara Theatre for a day of discussion on Sept. 25 — to find the way forward. 

But what is economic mobility, and how could Atlanta get better at it? 

Carnathan, the former head of research for the Atlanta Regional Commission, said it’s a “generational journey.” It begins with basic needs, like housing, food and health. Once those are met, it’s on to the “next leg” of quality education and social capital. From there, someone can get a job with benefits that could let them live in a thriving place with amenities. 

“The final leg of that journey is wealth building,” Carnathan said. 

Atlanta’s dead last ranking was no shock for the panel at Atlanta Way Day 2.0, moderated by Carnathan and Maria Saporta. Atlanta Regional Commission CEO and Executive Director Anna Roach said she was “unsurprised.” 

“I feel like the city, the county and the region have had plenty of notice that this would be the ultimate result,” Roach said. 

In the 2014 study, Atlanta ranked 49th out of 50 — one spot ahead of Charlotte, NC. It slipped into last place in 2024, while Charlotte climbed to 38th place. Charlotte’s move up the ranks showed there was a chance for improvement as long as the region takes action. 

“Metro Atlanta is very, very used to having conversations about addressing these kinds of things, and we’ve become less effective at actually doing something about it,” Roach said. 

Sherri Chisholm, executive director of Charlotte’s Leading On Opportunity Foundation, has firsthand experience in trying to solve the problem. When the North Carolina city got its last-place ranking, people mobilized. 

“What were we going to do such that this is no longer the case?” Chisholm asked. 

Leaders in the community brought people together people to create a task force – coming up with a report that had nearly 100 recommendations. Chisholm joined Leading on Opportunity in September of 2020. She helped focus the efforts, including providing data, strategy and policy to help organizations with on-the-ground work as well as working with funders.

Chisholm said Charlotte realized it needed to measure itself rather than wait for the next Chetty study. So in 2020 Leading on Opportunity created the “Opportunity Compass” to measure ongoing progress with policies on transportation, housing and more. 

But where does that leave Atlanta? Frank Fernandez, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, said: “We have to do a better job of making the case and building the shared understanding at a broad level.” 

“I don’t have a magic wand to say we get out of [the ranking], but that is, I think, the big next thing that we’re all trying to figure out together,” Fernandez said. 

He pointed to progress in early childhood development, affordable housing and workforce development work in and around Atlanta. Fernandez said the city needs to invest in those basic needs. 

But United Way of Greater Atlanta President Milton Little warned against the impulse to throw charitable dollars at the problem. The longtime Atlantan said he’s “quite familiar with income and wealth inequality” in the city, and it’s not a problem created by a lack of philanthropy — it’s from decisions made by the community. 

“It was policies and systems that got us here, and it’s gotta be policies and systems that get us out of it,” Little said. 

The panelists agreed: Atlanta’s nonprofits and leaders need to push for ongoing investment on a federal, state and local level. Then, maybe the people of the region can move up to the “next steps” of upward economic mobility. 

“There’s a model for this,” Roach said. “What I’m learning is that it starts with an open admission that there is a problem, and then an open and public commitment to solve it that has not happened.” 

Roach stressed the conversation needed to leave the small crowd at the Tara Theatre on Sept. 25, though. It needs to span the entire city, and it needs to translate into action. But Charlotte’s local leader said there is a path forward. 

“Change is possible,” Chisholm said. “Our movement was by no means a miracle, but it was done by hard work that we will continue to commit to, and I ask that you all continue to join us as we create a new story for the South.”