Three prominent national funders have selected Detroit and Lansing as two of 10 cities across the country to take part in a $12 million initiative aimed at identifying, piloting and measuring the success of interventions to improve income levels and wealth for residents.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Ballmer Group launched the initiative in November to identify barriers to economic mobility, understand the impact of potential interventions and share what works.

The other U.S. cities announced today as participants in the economic mobility initiative are: Albuquerque, N.M.; Cincinnati; Dayton, Ohio; New Orleans; Newark, N.J.; Racine, Wis.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Tulsa, Okla.

The cities were selected through a competitive process that looked at local commitment to addressing economic mobility, willingness to use data and evidence to accelerate progress, and ability to dedicate a team to accomplish the initiative's goals.

New data from Opportunity Insights at Harvard University shows the current generation's chances of earning more than their parents are declining, according to Bloomberg. In many communities, young people and families face significant barriers to climbing the economic ladder based on the neighborhoods in which they live.

One of Detroit's top priorities is to develop and preserve affordable housing across the city, Mayor Mike Duggan said in a release.

Last year, Detroit announced the creation of a $250 million affordable housing fund to preserve 10,000 affordable housing units with expiring low-income housing tax credits and to create 2,000 new ones by 2023.

"Now we're going to take a closer look at best ways to connect residents in these units to the services Detroit has to offer, such as job training through Detroit at Work," Duggan said.

Detroit and the other cities will work with a team of advisers from What Works Cities, a Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative launched in 2015 that helps cities confront challenges through data and evidence based decision-making. Other partners in the initiative include Johns Hopkins University's Center for Government Excellence, the Harvard Kennedy School's Government Performance Lab, Sunlight Foundation, Results for America and Behavioral Insights Team.

Additionally, Opportunity Insights at Harvard University is helping the cities' staffs draw insights regarding economic mobility using data from the Opportunity Atlas, an interactive resource developed in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau.

The overall project is aimed at helping the cities to increase their capacity to use data to increase residents' economic mobility.

Detroit will focus on connecting low-income residents of affordable housing to city-offered programs and services that increase their employment opportunities and likelihood of remaining in stable housing.

The city will work closely with Behavioral Insights Team with a $150,000 grant specifically targeted to that aspect of the work, said Keegan Mahoney, program director for the city of Detroit Housing and Revitalization Department.

It will talk with residents to understand the barriers to employment "so we can make sure the resources we're integrating are addressing the real needs of residents," he said.

"We suspect that job training and lack of financial literacy, criminal records ... are common barriers to economic mobility."

Detroit will work closely with other participating cities, sharing lessons and experiences to build a model for future collaboration to foster economic mobility, Mahoney said.

The city's increased capacity to use data will be one measure of success of the overall project, he said.

But ultimately, the goal is to measure whether income levels are increasing among Detroiters. How that's measured "is something we'll figure out as part of this process," Mahoney said.

Led by the city of Lansing Office of Financial Empowerment, Michigan's capital city will focus on increasing residents' access to financial empowerment tools.

Its efforts will build on programs and advocacy the city office has already put in place, Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said in a news release, including: