A Clearer Way to Understand Poverty—and a Practical Path to Overcome It

As we reflect on 250 years of striving toward the promise of the American Dream, Together We Climb shows how factors like neighborhoods, education and training, and cross‑class connections shape opportunity in America. By framing economic mobility as a community endeavor, it offers a timely, practical, and insightful blueprint for expanding opportunity in places where it has long been out of reach.

Together We Climb is a non‑partisan, thorough analysis that provides an excellent overview of the issues in addressing poverty in America today. The authors do it with humility, detail, analysis, and examples while providing a roadmap of the journey out of and beyond survival. It is a must‑read for anyone who wants an in‑depth analysis of poverty. The citations are extraordinary. The book is well‑written.

Together We Climb reflects what I’ve seen firsthand in Aurora: when government, nonprofits, employers, and neighbors work together, real economic mobility is possible. This book offers a locally grounded, results‑oriented framework that honors personal responsibility while respecting individual dignity. It provides a practical and hopeful roadmap for communities committed to helping people move from crisis to contribution and long‑term success.

Together We Climb highlights the essential role of the private sector— the “engine of employment”—in building dignity, stability, advance‑ ment, and wealth. The book argues that lasting economic mobility comes not from assistance alone, but from meaningful work that empowers individuals and strengthens families. Central to this vision is the concept of “equipping people with a good pole”—connecting individuals to quality jobs and the tools, skills, and support needed to succeed—so businesses can grow, communities can thrive, and families can achieve generational prosperity.

There is no better moment than the 250th anniversary of America’s founding—a celebration of the freedoms, virtues, and responsi‑ bilities that have made the American Dream possible—for policy‑ makers, philanthropists, civic leaders, and others to reconsider our approach to the rise from poverty to prosperity. Together We Climb is a must‑read for anyone who cares about that cause and should serve as the tip of the spear of its renaissance.

In this book, Steve and Jason take on the hard truth that prosper‑ ity is built—and it’s built by aligning our education, workforce, and economic systems around real people. They move beyond slogans and offer practical, actionable recommendations rooted in expanding opportunity for working‑class Americans across backgrounds and com‑ munities. If we’re serious about renewing the promise of this country, we must focus less on bureaucracy and more on agency—giving people the tools, pathways, and clear connections to opportunity that allow them not just to get by, but to move forward. That’s the work ahead.

Together We Climb shares a thoughtful view of community support, employer initiatives, and social entrepreneurs opening up alterna‑ tive routes for Americans to climb from poverty to prosperity. It makes a compelling case that employers can realize a competitive advantage by understanding and unlocking barriers for their front‑ line employees to manage complex life challenges and create room for them to thrive.

Together We Climb brings the American Dream back into focus with a realistic, human‑centered approach. By combining lived experience with systemic insight, the authors show that poverty isn’t a permanent condition, but a Mountain we can climb together.

Across twenty‑two countries and 200,000 participants, the landmark Global Flourishing Study keeps confirming what practitioners like Jason Janz have known from the ground up: Work, economic mobility, and community are vital pathways to human flourishing. Together We Climb builds a framework sturdy enough to hold both the data and the story. Policymakers and practitioners alike will benefit from this important book.

Together We Climb weaves experience, research, and systems clarity into a powerful, human‑centered view of mobility. Steve and Jason show how aligned operating systems open pathways for families to flourish, offering insights that are both practical and full of heart. Their work lights a clear path to the summit, offering guidance for all of us as we climb together.

The church has a rich history of compassion for those struggling to flourish, but it has often lacked a clear strategy for helping people experience wellbeing in all areas of their lives from relationships to employment to finances. The Mountain Model combines this com‑ passion with a process that integrates proximity, belief in human dignity, and patient accompaniment that looks a lot like disciple‑ ship. The Mountain Model affirms the specific gifts and roles that individuals and organizations can bring to the transformative work of climbing together out of poverty. This is a hopeful book for every faith leader who has wondered how to love their congregation, neighbor, and community.

We can’t talk about overcoming poverty without talking about rela‑ tionships. Decades of mobility research point to the same uncomfort‑ able truth: opportunity in America is social. It’s not just about what you know, it’s who you know—and people in poverty are often sys‑ tematically cut off from the networks that open doors. Most practi‑ tioners know this intuitively, but the systems they work inside ignore it entirely. Together We Climb is the rare book that treats relational capital as real infrastructure, as load‑bearing as a job or a paycheck. That framing alone, steeped in careful research and lived experience, is worth the read.

I’ve spent my career in the rooms where policy gets made and in the neighborhoods where it has to actually work. Together We Climb understands both. I’ve sponsored legislation to expand work-based learning and apprenticeships, and to open the door to employment for people working to break the cycle of incarceration, because I believe a job is one of the most powerful tools we have against poverty. This book makes the case that the government’s job isn’t to climb the mountain for people, it’s to clear the trail, so that businesses can hire, people can work, and Colorado communities can flourish. That’s the kind of policy I want to keep making.