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Investing in Economic Connectedness

Philanthropic actors have a role to play in fostering economic connectedness. The Richard King Mellon Foundation shows how place-based philanthropies can help build cross-class connections in the areas they support.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation funds ideas that advance economic prosperity in southwestern Pennsylvania. This region has a diverse population and includes rural communities and the urban area of Pittsburgh. The foundation’s economic mobility program seeks to expand opportunity for children in low-income households residing in the region and put them on an upwardly mobile trajectory.

In response to new research highlighting the importance of cross-class relationships to economic mobility, the foundation put out a call in 2023 for proposals that would promote economic connectedness. The foundation believed that southwestern Pennsylvania could be a hub for innovation in this field, since there are many locations in the region like museums or universities where cross-class relationships can form.

Funding has since been awarded to organizations that are integrating economic connectedness in their programming or research agendas. Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Transformational Play received funding to study whether a set of activities created by Play Included, a community-interest company supported by the LEGO Foundation, can enable cross-class friendships. Play Included’s Brick-by-Brick program trains facilitators to guide children in collaborative LEGO play designed to strengthen skills and confidence. CMU is now partnering with K-12 schools, afterschool providers, and other local nonprofits to see how this play-based program can foster relationships across socioeconomic lines. The foundation is also supporting Penn State Extension in their study of how economic connectedness works in rural communities. The study aims to develop a logic model and comprehensive toolkit of best practices and recommendations for rural programs. 

Social capital is often overlooked by philanthropies dedicated to increasing economic development and opportunity. Through their economic connectedness grants, staff at the Richard King Mellon Foundation have found relationship-building to be an amplifying ingredient in their economic mobility portfolio. These cross-class relationships are not a silver bullet, but they are an essential element of upward mobility that requires support and attention.

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