What poor people need is education --more specifically an altogether re-education of their children away from how their parents think in order to break the cycle of thinking the way poor people think. I don't think that's palatable to most people --it kind of harkens to reeducation camps, etc. It means diverging their thought process from their parents' way of thinking. This applies to Appalachia, Detroit, Volgograd or Lagos.

Networking, contacts, and community are also mechanisms through which people can learn. This is why isolating poor people together can reinforce the cycle of poverty.

it kind of harkens to reeducation camps, etc. It means diverging their thought process from their parents' way of thinking. This applies to Appalachia, Detroit, Volgograd or Lagos.

It's clearly not just the parents. It's the community in which people find themselves living in. Look at the examples of people who manage to raise their class standing. They usually do it by making contacts outside of their community.