Bad systems will beat good people every time. We are long overdue to reform the federal, state, and local policies that exclude people from the economy and keep them poor.

The institutions and systems we work and live within can define the possibilities for our lives. From banking to healthcare to criminal justice, each system either expands or contracts our opportunities. We can improve the systems we live within through strategic policy reform and innovative approaches to age-old issues.

Set up to be inclusive, institutions and systems support the agency of each individual and provide equal access to opportunity. Set up to be extractive, institutions redistribute wealth and power to a narrow group and constrain the possibilities open to many people.

This October, local and national leaders will challenge us to examine the effects of our current institutions and rethink how our systems might serve our communities.