The first phase of research for Rebuilding the American Dream will document the scope and impacts of the low-wage economy.  It will also explore the policies and practices that transformed formerly low-wage sectors such as manufacturing, mining, and construction into the building blocks of the middle class in the 1900s. 

Breaking with the trend in most recent reports of this kind, the Rebuilding the American Dream report will pay particular attention to the forces at play in the local, low-wage economy, and examine potential locally-based solutions alongside state-wide and national strategies to rebuild the middle class.