Breaking the cycle

Two stories via Rebecca's Pocket having to do with studies of poor areas and their residents:

1. A new study finds that when poor people live clustered together, their chances of breaking free of poverty are significantly decreased, largely because the resources they need to improve their lives are physically out of reach.

   "It's not that people who live in impoverished areas don't want to work or don't want better lives or don't want their children to go to good schools -- they just can't access it."

   The failure of many large housing projects are a symptom of this; folks need to be integrated into functioning communities if they are to overcome their obstacles.
   
   
2. Students in San Jose, CA, are helping poor communities map their neighborhoods in terms of the buildings and public resources, to help hold local government accountable for overlooking their needs.

   Many poor neighborhoods lack the political framework to voice concerns. With computers and GPS receivers in hand, residents from these areas can report specific problems to city officials and expect results.

   This seems like a good extension of the "broken window theory" (see, e.g., here) -- making sure that cracked sidewalks and dangling streetlights get fixed right away helps keep the neighborhood from sliding into disrepair and the residents from giving up.