If you’ve been in Charlotte for a few years, you’ve probably heard about the social mobility study that ranked the Queen City 50th out of 50 metropolitan areas for upward mobility. In other words, if you’re born poor in Charlotte, you’re likely to remain poor your whole life if you stay here. It is distressing, to say the least.

Our next guest on the BrandBuilders Podcast is part of a collaborative effort to change that statistic. Mark Talbot is Director of Economic Development at Freedom Communities – a nonprofit that’s more than a think tank – it immerses itself in the west Charlotte corridor with tools to change lives. With a resume in commercial real estate and ministry, his experience is the one-two punch Charlotte needs to tackle its social mobility problem.