 But if you look at American history, there's also another important story to tell about how upward mobility really works. In part, this is the complement to the rugged individualist story that we all know so much about. And some of you have obviously lived. It's about communities that are ecosystems of opportunity. As Eric Schmidt knows so well, the personal computer revolution needed more than one or two people in a garage. It needed Silicon Valley, networks of public and private universities, investors, competitors, collaborators. It needed state and local governments that invested in the future and in human potential. It needed a culture of risk taking and creativity. This story about the link between strong communities and the American dream goes very deep. And one of the first great observers and chroniclers of America was, of course, Alexis de Tocqueville. He traveled across that new country of ours in the 1830s, learning everything he could about this radical idea called democracy and the men and women who made it work. He was amazed by the social and economic equality and mobility he saw here unheard of in aristocratic Europe and by what he called our habits of the heart, the everyday values and customs that set Americans apart from the rest of the world. He found a nation of joiners, clubs, congregations, civic organizations, political parties, groups that bound communities together and invested those famous rugged individualists in the welfare of their neighbors. This made America's great democratic experiment possible. Talk about a big idea. We see that where the fabric of community is strong even today. Places with a vibrant middle class, two parent families, good schools, unions, churches, civic organizations, places integrated across class and racial lines, that's where we still see upward mobility in America. It's not about average income. Researchers point to cities with similar affluence, like Atlanta and Seattle, that have markedly different rates of economic mobility. It's not about race, black and white residents of a city like Atlanta both have low upward mobility. It's about all these other factors that add up to healthy families and inclusive communities. And it suggests that investing in our neighborhood institutions, strengthening our community bonds, has to be part of our strategy for reducing inequality, increasing mobility, and renewing the American dream.