'Billion Dollar Bets' to Create Economic Opportunity for Every American. Executive Summary

This executive summary describes the research that was conducted based on the following question: "How could a philanthropic investment of $1 billion dramatically increase upward social mobility for low-income individuals and families?" The intent of the research was to create a series of roadmaps that illustrate how investments of $1 billion might improve the lifetime earnings of millions of low-income Americans. Researchers began by identifying four promising areas where large investments of private capital would likely catalyze population-level change. 15 concepts for restoring the meritocratic ideal to many more Americans were selected as illustrative "big bets" that span the four investment areas. To get a better understanding of the promise and pitfalls that come with any attempt to take on the social mobility challenge, researchers took a deeper dive into six of the proposed bets. This executive summary lists the six bets and discusses how the bets were evaluated for risk. [For the main report, see ED606509.]