Closing the Opportunity Gaps Conclusion Americans have reason to look optimistically toward the 21st century. Confidence is returning to America's cities as well. In many cities, thousands of residents are moving from welfare rolls to payrolls. A number of downtowns are experiencing a highly visible renaissance as destinations for tourism, sports, the arts, and entertainment.
Violent crime is down and homeownership is up.
City balance sheets are getting healthier. Central cities host only a relatively small share of the jobs being produced by metropolitan economies. Cities find themselves on the losing side of fundamental structural and demographic trends that are changing the face of metropolitan America, dispersing jobs and people while they concentrate poverty and social problems. It also complicates the challenge for cities of moving thousands of their residents from welfare to work. The overarching challenge confronting cities is to grow in sustainable ways, while closing the opportunity gaps formed by these and other deficits in areas such as economic development, education, public safety, housing, transportation, health, finance, and human services .