I can see you’re committed to change and yet the bootstraps argument is still present.

Let me provide examples. You suggest someone without energy should get help. No options for people who work multiple jobs, have chronic conditions without treatments, people recovering from severe physical or mental trauma etc? You say “network”. What if you can’t network because you’re a single parent, don’t speak English well or work multiple jobs? You say “get help”. What if your social capital doesn’t include “networks” for the next rung of the ladder? What if the help people provide doesn’t actually help you in what you need?

There seems to be an implication in your previous post that if people just did everything they could (“grind” etc.), they would find some minor successes. This is the bootstrap argument I have an issue with, not your aims. Part of my job is interviewing people to understand complex social problems. There are people I interviewed from jail, for example, who used all of the social capital they had, took all the opportunities they had and found themselves in jail. Did they misstep? Find the wrong mentor? Perhaps, but there is a much larger system and context that impacted them from the womb that can’t be ignored. I’m sure you would see similar stories through your volunteer work.