“Should your ZIP code determine your future? Not according to American ideals of social mobility. American realities, however, tell a different story: Where people grow up goes a long way toward shaping how well they will be educated, how stable their families will be, how high their dreams can soar.

“Perhaps no group knows this better than impoverished African-Americans often trapped in soul-deadening public housing, the segregated ‘projects’ that have dotted many an urban landscape. Breaking entrenched patterns of racial separation has been a decades-long challenge for the government. Now the Obama administration, in its final months, is pursuing a fresh solution: a plan that puts ZIP codes front and center.”