The Opportunity Agenda

Begun in 2004, 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. To offer true opportunity, we believe our nation must acknowledge and address the barriers that keep people from achieving their full potential. When we find these barriers—such as limited access to health care, over-reliance on prisons, racial or gender bias—we must work together as a society to eliminate them. Accordingly, The Opportunity Agenda, through an integrated strategy of communications, research, and advocacy, works with social justice organizations and leaders to connect with core American values and expand the constituency for opportunity in the United States.

We believe that true opportunity requires a commitment to a core set of values.  These values are integrally related to the principle of human rights.  Equal treatment, a voice in societal decisions, a chance to start over, and the tools to meet our own basic needs are not just good policy ideas.  They are the right of every human being simply by virtue of his or her humanity. 

Mobility – All of us who work hard must be afforded the opportunity to advance and participate fully in the economic, political, and cultural life of the nation, notwithstanding our status at birth.

Equality – We all must have full access to the benefits, responsibilities, and burdens of our society regardless of race, gender, national origin, or socioeconomic status.

Voice – We embrace democracy as a system that depends on the ability of all of us to participate, debate, and have real ownership in the public dialogue.

Redemption– We recognize that humans are responsive and evolving beings, and that those who falter in their efforts or break societal rules warrant the chance for rehabilitation and redemption.

Community – We share responsibility for each other, just as we are responsible for ourselves.  The strength of our people and our nation depends on the vibrancy and cohesiveness of our diverse communities.

Security – We are all entitled to the level of education, economic well being, health care, and other protections necessary to human dignity, without which it is impossible to access society’s other rights and responsibilities.

www.opportunityagenda.org