Project Directory

Opportunity Agenda

Description

The Opportunity Agenda builds the national will to expand opportunity for all Americans. True opportunity means that all people enjoy economic security and mobility, equal treatment, a voice in decisions that affect them, and, when needed, a chance to start over. To offer true opportunity, our nation must acknowledge and address the barriers that keep people from achieving their true potential. When we find these barriers-such as limited access to health care, underperforming schools, racial or gender bias-we must work together as a society to eliminate them. Realizing true opportunity for all will require a level of moral leadership and societal investment not seen in decades. Yet these concerns are far from the current public agenda. Problems of inequality, economic insecurity, and stagnant mobility are largely absent from our political discourse or from mainstream media coverage. And issues of racial discrimination, poverty, immigration, and crime tend to be framed in divisive ways that fracture our national resolve instead of building a consensus for effective solutions. Consequently, most Americans are unaware, for example, of the persistence of racial and gender discrimination, or that children go to bed hungry every night in the richest nation on earth. Most do not feel a connection to the struggles of today's immigrants, though most are, themselves, the descendants of immigrants. And most are unaware of effective policies for expanding opportunity and are doubtful that government can make a difference. The Opportunity Agenda works to ensure that the United States lives up to its promise as the land of opportunity for every person who lives here. We believe it's possible to renew America's commitment to opportunity in ways that change policy and improve people's lives.

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Constituents General population People of color Women

Strategies Public policy/regulatory reform

Keyword racism access discrimination poverty public policy