Winnebago County Upward Mobility
In 2024, Bridges to Prosperity Northern Illinois initiated a comprehensive planning process aimed at increasing upward mobility from poverty and addressing racial inequities in Winnebago County. This initiative was grounded in data and best practices from the Urban Institute’s Boosting Upward Mobility from Poverty and Advancing Equity project, which helped us identify key disparities and systemic barriers that hinder economic advancement, particularly among communities of color.
Through strong collaboration with nonprofit organizations, businesses, philanthropic partners, anchor institutions, and faith-based leaders, we have developed an Upward Mobility Action Plan to drive systems-level change.
A core component of this planning phase was the formation of a Mobility Coalition, comprised of 20 community leaders, who engaged in this planning process for 18 months. This cross-sector group met with both community stakeholders and individuals with lived experience of poverty to identify the highest-impact strategies for increasing upward mobility and was tasked with identifying actionable strategies to promote upward mobility and reduce poverty in Winnebago County.