After studying the issue for two years, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it will devote $158 million to help Americans break free from poverty, marking the first nationwide effort by the country’s largest philanthropy to address economic hardship in the United States.

"The economy is changing, and jobs today are different," said Ryan Rippel, a Gates strategy adviser who led the work on the new plan. "Folks are working very hard and aren’t necessarily able to make it".....

.....Despite decades of efforts trying to address poverty, millions of Americans remain in its grip.

One reason past philanthropic approaches haven’t had much success, says Gordon Berlin, president of MDRC, a social-research organization, is that the causes of poverty are constantly shifting. A decade ago, few would have predicted the opioid crisis. And the Great Recession came as a big surprise to many Americans.

"Many people clawing out a middle-class existence suddenly found themselves on the fence of poverty," he said.

To gain any ground, government resources will be necessary because the problem is so big, Berlin said. But he said in the current hyperpartisan political climate, where Congress suffers from paralysis, philanthropy can be vital by helping to test what works.

"At moments like this, philanthropy can play its biggest role," he said.....

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