Poverty series highlights importance of affordable-housing, community-building strategies

It’s an often used refrain about lower-income, disadvantaged students: “ZIP code should not determine a student’s educational fate.’’ In other words, just because a child lives in a high-poverty area, he or she should not receive fewer resources or an inferior education. Yet a Star Tribune series published last week showed that ZIP code can indeed have an impact on one’s ability to rise out of poverty.

Local and national studies show that the toughest places to overcome poverty are the nation’s core cities, where the poor (who are often disproportionately people of color) and middle- to upper-income residents live in different ZIP codes — and worlds. Those who grow up and continue to live in urban poverty are more likely to stay poor throughout their lives.