Looking at your proposed solutions, I agree with many and disagree with some.
It is easy to explain the lack of supermarkets, drug stores, etc. Businesses go where they can make money. There is not a lack of demand for basics like food and clothing, so the problem lies elsewhere.
I do think you are 100% right regarding poor education. Poor education is both a government problem and a cultural problem. My brother started a charter school in Jersey City. He had been mayor and he experienced so much push back from the teachers' union and to a lesser extent the state, he could do nothing to fix the educational problems in the community schools.
Starting out with elementary school, over the years his charter school has expanded and now includes grades K-12. 2023 was their first senior class graduation. Here are the results, summarized in a Facebook post by my sister-in-law.
"So happy to experience Beloved’s first high school graduation! What a journey! 75% poverty rate; 100 graduation rate; 96% college acceptance rate; 100% LOVE AND BELOVED"
Let those numbers sink in. When parents care enough about education and the state cares enough about offering a safe school, amazing things can happen. But the school has to be safe, and parents need to get involved... government can't do it alone and you have to put the students first and everyone else second.
When my brother was mayor, he did bring jobs into the city using among other things "enterprise zones" that provided businesses tax benefits to open shop in cities. These programs have to be paired with vocational training program to help employers secure the skills they need to operate.
Crime is a big problem. My brother reduced crime dramatically by reintroducing neighborhood policing and providing poor older children access to school gyms until 11PM every night. Getting kids off the street is critical.
Housing discrimination is not the problem it once was. We are in the housing "business" and the laws are so strict that even if someone tried to discriminate, it would be hard.
Wealth inequality or equality does not solve anything. While some studies have shown correlations between wealth inequality and crime, there has been no evidence of a casual effect. I think this becomes a distraction. Help someone get a good education and a good job and things work out just fine.
What my brother found as mayor of Jersey City is that you can't start anywhere, you must start everywhere. You have to impose safety at whatever cost. Retail won't show up, employers won't show up, and jobs won't show up, if you can't make a place safe.
Likewise, what employers want are skilled employees, even if you make a place safe, they won't show up unless you have the educational and training programs, they need to provide them a source of skilled workers. Sadly, our public education system in most poor communities is broken at all levels. Education needs to be skills focused and value focused... telling people they are victims or other people are oppressors is not going to make their lives better.
I think everything in our country is bending towards politics including education.
If I were being really tough, I would issue restraining orders for anyone convicted of violent crime or repeated property crime offenders. These restraining orders would require convicted individuals to stay away from the community that committed crimes in for a period of at least five years from the time they committed a crime or are released from prison. It sounds harsh, but violent people and repeat offenders are the minority of people causing the majority of problems. You can't raise up a community until you address this problem.
