Urban Institute research sheds fresh light on the daunting challenges facing America’s metros in today’s economy:

• Mitch Downey and Meagan Cahill show how revitalizing two DC public housing projects reduced crime.
• Sheila Zedlewski argues that federal welfare isn’t the safety net it should be now.
• Margery Turner revisits questions of equity and opportunity in post-Katrina New Orleans.
• The job losses and foreclosures plaguing Philadelphia mirror national signs of what may be a double-dip recession.

If you want the facts – not myths or anecdotes – on these challenges, keep coming back to the MetroTrends blog.  And please pass it along to friends and colleagues.