The speakers for the session entitled, "Reviving the American Dream: Confronting Inequality in the U.S.," wasted no time digging down to a bedrock question—why should Americans care about a widening gap between rich and poor? Alexis de Tocqueville provided the answer: "self-interest rightly understood." Widening inequality, while fueling social tension and wasting human potential, erodes the relative buying power of the middle class. With consumption fueling about two-thirds of U.S. growth, stagnating wages among the core of the population could weaken economic dynamism. Much more than a pocketbook issue, poverty exacts a huge emotional toll on young Americans, according to Jeff Duncan-Andrade, associate professor of Raza Studies and Education at San Francisco State University. U.S. data on post-traumatic stress disorder "have shown that soldiers returning from live combat are only half as likely to have the symptoms of the disorder as a young person growing up in poverty," he said. U.S. poverty has persisted as a college degree has grown more essential to gaining a well-paying job, according to William Julius Wilson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University and a former MacArthur Prize Fellow. U.S. workers have suffered a decline in incomes as the strength of organized labor has waned. Also, pressures from trade have dimmed prospects for low-skilled labor, Wilson said. Social inequality reinforces economic inequality, according to Wilson. For example, schools in lower-income neighborhoods may have trouble attracting and retaining teachers. Moreover, as socioeconomic segregation increases, both between and among racial groups, parents with low incomes may have trouble making strong bonds with parents in higher strata. Consequently, disadvantaged children have limited opportunity to see a link between academic achievement and success in the job market. U.S. poverty is extensive and entrenched. About one out of five U.S. children lives below the poverty line, and 43% of the families in the bottom decile of income fail to advance to a higher decile, according to Robert Doar of the American Enterprise Institute. A fight against poverty must not treat employment, family and education as separate spheres, said Doar, whose policy experience includes work in social services in New York. Duncan-Andrade highlighted how some schools in poor communities have defied conventional wisdom by having success with low-income students, citing a lab school he opened in Oakland, California. Teachers at such schools can be effective and satisfied if they approach teaching differently than their counterparts in more affluent areas. For example, Duncan-Andrade said, at an Oakland school he visited, 19 out of 20 first-graders had at one point heard gunfire in their neighborhoods. To succeed, teachers in such schools need to know how to help children address chronic insecurity. Asked to identify effective ways to combat poverty, Wilson advocated universal preschool education, while Doar stressed more effective early education. Duncan-Andrade asked the audience to support innovation and research while underscoring the power of hope in poor neighborhoods. He said he tells his students that rather than emulate their neighborhoods’ dope dealers, they should follow his example as a "hope dealer." According to Duncan-Andrade, "this problem can be solved—I’m certain of that." The views expressed are those of the author and Brown Advisory as of the date referenced and are subject to change at any time based on market or other conditions. These views are not intended to be and should not be relied upon as investment advice and are not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. 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