A Feb. 10 Observer editorial mentioned that the Opportunity Task Force ”hasn’t generated the changes it promised” surrounding economic mobility. This greatly discounts the many ways our community has embraced and carried out the recommendations of the Opportunity Task Force report, which was — and still is — a catalyst and road map to improve economic mobility in the city.

The Opportunity Task Force took the important step of centering economic mobility in Charlotte’s collective consciousness following Charlotte’s now infamous dead-last ranking among 50 U.S. cities in a 2014 Harvard study on mobility. The Opportunity Task Force Report, which outlines 90 specific recommendations for improving mobility, led to the creation of Leading on Opportunity, an organization that carries out the recommendations of the report and advances opportunity.

Since the task force report was issued in 2017, the work of countless organizations has been guided through the lens of economic mobility. Just a few examples of progress that were accelerated as a result of the report’s recommendations:

Affordable Housing — More than $277 million was raised from the corporate, public, private and philanthropic groups to increase access to affordable housing. Public-private partnerships have flourished in this area as a result. In 2019, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Charlotte (LISC) worked to launch the $50 million-plus Charlotte Housing Opportunity Investment Fund to finance mixed-income housing for families. Through efforts by LISC and others, more than 5,000 affordable housing units have been created in the past five years.

Pre-K – In 2018, the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners allocated over $9 million to fund the first year of voluntary, public pre-K. Known as MECK Pre-K, the program provides access to free high-quality public pre-kindergarten for eligible Mecklenburg families. An additional $6.2 million was raised from the private sector to increase the number of degreed teachers for expanded classrooms. And, the county has since made an annual commitment of $60 million.

Bus system realignment – The Charlotte Area Transit System moved the city’s bus system to a grid system, decreasing commute times across neighborhoods. Public transportation is foundational to providing accessibility to job opportunities, making economic mobility possible.

Charlotte Future 2040 – The city’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan is a vision to guide Charlotte’s growth and investments over the next two decades, and its ambitious goals — neighborhoods more closely connected with centers of employment, transit, greenways, grocery stores and other quality-of-life amenities — are largely based on our report.

Since becoming executive director of Leading on Opportunity in 2020, I have revamped the team and centered our efforts on data, strategy and policy. We are particularly focused on college and career readiness — one of the report’s key determinants for mobility — and have rallied community support, including the involvement of the presidents of UNCC, Central Piedmont Community College, Davidson College, Johnson C. Smith University and Queens University of Charlotte, who sit on our council.

Our community’s opportunity gap is the result of decades of racial and economic segregation combined with public policies and business practices that divided our community. It’s a problem generations in the making that will take years to unravel.

As noted in the 2017 task force report, our highest aspiration is that Charlotte-Mecklenburg leaders — governmental, philanthropic, business, faith, nonprofit, neighborhood and grassroots — will continue to come together to reorganize systems and structures to address these disparities. At Leading on Opportunity, we see this collective focus on transforming the lives of our children and their parents. Now, five years later, our city remains committed to moving the work forward.