As more affluent households have left our older suburbs in most metropolitan regions for newer suburbs further from the city center, businesses have followed. These suburban communities, like many cities, have lost much of the fiscal capacity to respond to important new challenges - the capacity to join the new economy and ensure a high quality of life for residents. The nation's economic challenges are not confined to the cities and suburbs in metropolitan areas. Many rural communities have been mired in poverty and joblessness for decades. Their economic fortunes are like flat lines against the cycles of growth and contraction that have reshaped the nation over decades.
Isolation also plays a distinct role in shaping rural poverty.
But now, with a record-breaking economy, we can include these places in the promise of growth and vitality that all communities deserve. A majority of city dwellers own their own homes - for the first time in history.