Federal programs, local strategies, individual efforts are all essential for new urban war on poverty

Drive through Detroit’s east side, the north side of Philadelphia, the south side of Chicago or Milwaukee’s near north side. Parts of urban America look like battle zones — burned-out buildings, decaying streets, vacant lots strewn with trash, empty factories and abandoned homes. There are blocks where it’s much easier to buy alcohol than apples, where life expectancy is similar to that in a Third World nation’s, where far more young men go to prison than to college.

To read the full Detroit Free Press editorial and its take on Savannah’s poverty reduction efforts, click here.