Child poverty, violent crime, and racial inequality — stubborn challenges confronting citizens and policymakers in metros across the US, and the focus for last week’s MetroTrends blogs:

• Susan Popkin and Jennifer Comey described a promising initiative to help children in one of DC’s most distressed neighborhoods.

• John Roman challenged Charles Murray’s contention that mass incarceration “worked” to reduce violent crime.

• Margery Turner marked the MLK holiday with metro-specific measures of the opportunity gaps still facing African Americans and Latinos.