By all popular accounts, the United States is experiencing a period of dazzling economic growth and unprecedented prosperity.’ After almost a decade of economic expansion, the country is enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in recent memory, a booming stock market, and reduced welfare rolls. Yet, as the economy hurtles forward, there is mounting evidence that low-income communities are being left behind. In contrast to stock market-fueled wealth accumulation among the super-rich, the real income and overall wealth of the working poor have declined during this boom period. The poverty rate is still thirteen percent nationwide and closer to twenty percent in major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles. Unemployment rates in distressed neighborhoods reach levels many times the national average.