I hate to break this to you, but "bootstrappiness" isn't going to solve problems. Our bigger cities have long histories of a vicious cycle of segregation and financial isolation of entire groups of people, either by choice or as a byproduct of attitudes and social stigmas. The people that attract better jobs leave neighborhoods to get away from the "undesirables", and jobs leave to follow the money.

And, when you add to that a society that has failed to maintain quality public transportation and/or has designed systems that are, at best, ill-conceived, and at worst deliberately hindered, you now make it extremely difficult for individuals who are not wealthy enough to afford transportation, day care, etc. to make the trek from the poor neighborhoods to where better jobs exist so that they can "bootstrap themselves to a better life".

What you have in a lot of cases in these poorest neighborhoods are a sense of bitterness that births entitlement, not because they're lazy, but because when the system deliberately adds hoops and roadblocks that make getting a good job far more difficult, a point comes when people just don't have the energy or desire to keep fighting and instead figure that society can foot the bill since society built a rigged system.

You want people to have a better work ethic, you don't get there by cutting off public assistance and telling "The lazy bums" to get off their asses and get a job. You do it by deliberately working to reshape the landscape so that people who are the "lazy bums" have access to better jobs, transportation, education, and services that make it so that they can get those jobs and succeed.

Now, make no mistake, there is certainly a social attitude problem in that some people would rather not pull their weight, or work hard to better themselves. There's some truth to the fact that certain groups self-stigmatize things like education and so on ("acting white"), which viciously attacks anyone who is trying to succeed. And there needs to be serious change in the mindsets of those who have let their resentment and bitterness become a demand for others to carry them.

But don't fall for the trope that all it takes is working hard. Working hard only gets you so far. You have to have opportunities for that to work.