The American Dream is eroding in Philadelphia. Incomes that used to provide a comfortable middle class life are no longer enough to even cover the basics. Even families who are near the median income – an income that should solidify their middle class status – are drowning.

The parents in these struggling families bank on the hope that their children can move up the economic ladder, becoming more prosperous as adults than they, the parents, were.  The bleak situation facing Philadelphia families will only change with large-scale action.

The policies laid out in PCCY’s latest report, “Underwater: What’s Sinking Families in Philadelphia”, must be implemented, or the cycle of financial stress will never end. The children in these struggling families will become the next generation of struggling families. The American Dream will become the American Drain.