According to the Brookings Institution report, solutions and strategies are highly effective if integrated into the state agenda.  The report identifies 5 primary policy objectives:

1)To help older industrial cities “fix the basics” needed to ensure that they are high quality, fiscally healthy communities.  The basics include fixing schools, street safety and creating competition amongst businesses.

2)To help older industrial cities build upon their economic strengths so that they can create a “high road” economy of knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship.  This includes investing downtown revitalization, focusing on competitive niches, and enhancing connectivity between regions.

3)To help older industrial cities transform their physical landscapes with investments that can catalyze development and stimulate economic growth. The report uses the New Jersey Transit Village Initiative, a program that provides incentives to redevelop around existing transit infrastructure as an example. 

4)To help older industrial cities grow their middle class by helping low-wage workers build skills, income, and wealth.  This includes giving residents skills they need to compete, increasing opportunities for low-income workers, and reducing the costs of being poor in urban areas.

5)To help older industrial cities create neighborhoods of choice for people of varying incomes.  The report points to supporting mixed-income housing like Massachusetts and Indiana, two states that give preference to developments that include market rate units. 

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