02.27.2013
Opportunity Nation is encouraged about the creation of a new task force on Poverty and Opportunity this week with a bold goal of cutting poverty in half in the next decade. The task force will work to raise public awareness about the circumstances facing low-income citizens and the barriers to economic mobility they face.
Read more »02.25.2013
Louisiana's poverty rate is several points above the national average. As portrayed in the film, too many families are living below the poverty line. Additionally, Louisiana has a higher-than-average percentage of youth who are not in school and not working.
Read more »02.19.2013
The local public high school was a “drop-out factory.” I was put into remedial classes, which I found boring and unchallenging after my previous education. But even worse than that, I felt like the school had given up on me. So, I gave up on myself and dropped out. My story could have ended there. I could have become one of my many peers who didn’t graduate.
Read more »02.19.2013
The Opportunity Nation summit in late 2011 affirmed my hunch. Surrounded by opportunity-obsessed changemakers for three days in Harlem, I realized just how strong and unified the group of people committed to making this country better really is. I met Leaders and Scholars and Speakers and Mentors who all felt the same way about closing this nation's opportunity gap: they were committed to closing it. Realizing that I wasn't alone in my desire to make an impact on such a giant issue--lack of opportunity in America--and fully inspired that we could do it if we all put our heads together, I committed then and there--in November 2011--to launching Moneythink as a full-time professional operation.
Read more »02.15.2013
The NBA All-Star game engages millions of fans to become involved and Opportunity Nation wants to engage millions more to have a say at even higher stakes--restoring the American Dream. The fans held the power to choose some of the All-Star players by voting for them to be starters. Similarly, the everyday American can hold the power to make his or her county an All-Star and one day a MVP. Opportunity Leaders and Scholars are already embarking on this mission in their communities to restore the ladder of opportunity.
Read more »02.15.2013
The Budget Control Act of 2011 established a 12 member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction with the task of reducing the deficit by an additional $1.2 - $1.5 trillion over ten years. The legislation also included a sequestration hammer should the super committee fail, a provision intended as incentive for the Committee to act. Sequestration is a fiscal policy procedure adopted by Congress to deal with the federal budget deficit and is the cancellation of budgetary resources.
Read more »02.14.2013
Working his way up from an entry-level position on Wall Street to eventually becoming the Mayor in 2002, Bloomberg has a new set of opportunity related challenges to address in each of the five boroughs of New York City. The Opportunity Index scores for the five boroughs and their five separate counties vary. However, four of the five boroughs score lower than the New York state average in the education category.
Read more »02.11.2013
This Sunday marked the 55th annual Grammy Awards. Of course, we here at Opportunity Nation were watching the incredible performances and rooting for our favorite artists. But before the stars hit the red carpet, we decided to take a look at opportunity in the areas from which music's brightest lights emerged. Six artists tied for the most nominations, with each up to win six. We decided to ask the following question: today, what barriers to opportunity would the successors to these stars need to overcome, based on where they grew up and our Opportunity Index scores for those counties today?
Read more »02.04.2013
We are proud to have individuals like Stuart Butler and Andrea Levere involved with Opportunity Nation.
Read more »02.03.2013
This Sunday over 100 million Americans will watch the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers settle the score, but in these football teams’ respective cities, a different kind of score is worth our attention - their Opportunity Index Scores.
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