Executive Summary

Summer is the most unequal time in America. Through no fault of their own, low-income children fare worse than wealthier peers in education, employment, health, and safety. Upending the notion that school alone is the great equalizer for poor kids, summer inequities compound over time and reveal themselves in achievement gaps and closing windows of opportunity after high school. Consequently, being low-income leads to a disadvantage in skills, social capital, and opportunity. America needs a new social contract. Boston Beyond and the Boston PIC are well-positioned to demonstrate how major cities can accomplish the previously unimaginable: ensuring that young people, regardless of income or zip code, have transformational summer learning and employment that will help them escape poverty’s long shadow. This would transform opportunity for a generation of learners and create a new paradigm for cities across the country, for generations beyond.