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This is the 2009 State of Opportunity report.  Here you may download the final report, the final report with accompanying charts, a synopsis, and each of the indicators individually.

Read more about the report here.

The Opportunity Agenda filed an amicus brief  with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano.  In this case, the City of New Haven, CT, declined to certify the results of a firefighter promotion test based on evidence that the test was discriminatory in its operation, and fairer and more effective tests were available.  Firefighters who scored highly on the flawed test sued the city, claiming that throwing out the test discriminated against them based on their race.

In a tremendous victory for both health and human rights advocates, Connecticut has passed and signed into law legislation establishing a comprehensive Commission on Health Equity. The Commission is dedicated to addressing racial, ethnic, linguistic and other disparities in health care access and quality, and has been given an impressive and broad set of tools and powers to create health equity in the state. Perhaps most significantly for human rights advocates, the preamble to the law states Connecticut’s belief in a human right to health:

The Opportunity Agenda submitted the following testimony urging the State of New York to consider not just the issue of insurance coverage in reform efforts, but the deep and continuing problems of equal access and quality of care that many New Yorkers continue to struggle with.

In 2007, New York State began the "Partnership for Coverage" initiative, designed to build consensus and support for health care reform.  This testimony was submitted at one of the Departments of Health and Insurance's series of hearings.

Anticipating the Supreme Court's decision on the cases Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, The Opportunity Agenda began work in 2007 to develop a communications strategy that coordinated and unified the voices of the social justice community to achieve greater coherence, resonance and amplification leading up to and following the Supreme Court's decision.

This memo offers communications advice on building support for commonsense immigration reform and other policies that integrate immigrants into U.S. society.  It is rooted in both experience and recent research conducted by The Opportunity Agenda and others.

The guidance in this memo is designed primarily for communications between experts of color and policymakers, as well as “opinion leaders.” It is intended to inspire “persuadables” to make changes in policy and practice that will close the racial wealth gap, rather than to rally our base of existing supporters. The guidance draws on recent opinion research, media analysis, and experience from the field to offer promising approaches and messages.

This memo offers guidance for using the 2009 State of Opportunity in America report, which examines various dimensions of opportunity, including health care, wealth and income, education, and incarceration. While expanding opportunity in America remains a goal of policymakers and advocates alike, this report finds that access to full and equal opportunity is still very much a mixed reality. Our recommendations to address this reality offer concrete ideas for moving us forward together.

This memo sets forth themes and ideas on talking about immigration during the current economic downturn.

It’s time to tell a new story about immigration in this country. We propose a flexible, values-based framework that we can use to start a variety of conversations: We need workable solutions that uphold our values and help us move forward together.

These talking points provide advice on talking broadly about creating a health care system that works for everyone.

We recommend using the following messages to communicate the importance of pursuing inclusion in our schools, and outline the valid options for doing so.

Talking about the inherent unfairness and inequalities in our health care system is a critical contribution to New York’s ongoing dialogue about how to improve it.

This publication contains a balance of historical context, framing advice, resources, practical tools and strategies for moving toward a new political conversation.  

These talking points offer communications advice to policymakers, scholars, advocates and others seeking to promote immigrant integration policies at the state or local level. 

Held December 2, 2007 in Des Moines, IA, the Heartland Presidential Forum kicked off the Campaign for Community Values.  The resulting press coverage included a values dimension otherwise missing in much of the caucus coverage.

The reproductive justice (RJ) movement works to create a society in which all people have the economic, social, and political resources necessary to make healthy decisions about their bodies, sexuality, and reproduction for themselves, their families, and their communities.

For much of this decade, immigration has been an important topic on the public agenda. Nowhere is that more true than in California. The state is home to 9.9 million immigrants, its governor is an immigrant, and it is a border state on the front lines of the debate over immigration reform.

When it comes to ensuring that the economic stimulus and recovery process promotes equal opportunity for all communities, the law is strong, but it is up to communities to uphold and enforce that law.

This report offers new and crucial information to the Governor and the Legislature as they consider what steps to take to ensure access to quality health care for everyone in the State.

This is the 2007 update to the State of Opportunity report.  There are two files, the full chart of indicators and a summary.

If the promise of opportunity is a core national commitment, it is essential to measure our success in fulfilling that commitment.  This report assesses the nation’s progress toward protecting and expanding opportunity for all Americans and encourages our policymakers, through bold leadership and innovative policies, to ensure the promise of o

This fact sheet reviews threats to opportunity in the Gulf Coast region and the nation. It also draws upon a range of research and reporting on pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina conditions to distill some key lessons from the storm.

This fact sheet reviews the history of disinvestment in FEMA and offers recommendations for rebuilding our national infrastructure for safety and opportunity.

This fact sheet reviews evidence of housing-opportunity barriers both prior to and after the storm, and summarizes some effective policies to reduce these barriers and expand opportunity.

Originally conceived as a “shadow report” to the 2007 U.S. Periodic Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, this report was written by a coalition of experts in the fields of health policy and environmental justice, including academics and members of civil society organizations working to advance the right to health and the right to a healthy environment in the United States.

The Opportunity Agenda commissioned a media analysis of broadcast news and talk radio, a gap in our previous scans which focused only on print media.

This analysis of the interviews in California and Illinois addresses how fifty policy leaders see human rights issues at the state level.

This research project examined the opinion of three key audiences on human rights in the U.S. as applied to social justice issues:  the American public, social justice advocates not currently using the human rights approach, and journalists who regularly cover social issues.

The state of health care in the United States is in serious disrepair. Prosperous though it is, the U.S. is the only industrialized country with no universal access to health care, resulting in over 45 million uninsured Americans. Universal and equal access to high quality healthcare is essential to fulfilling the American ideal of opportunity for all. It is also the human right of all people, simply by virtue of their humanity. Bringing this human right home to the United States is therefore crucial to realizing the American Dream.

This report analyzes Spanish speaking and Hispanic media coverage of immigration issues.

This basic primer was written by Loren Siegel based on her work managing the American Civil Liberties Union's public opinion research program during her tenure as Public Education Director (1991-2001).

This toolkit represents the best thinking about how to use the Opportunity Frame from the communications professionals at the SPIN Project, the leaders of The Opportunity Agenda, other communciations professionals engaged in defining the Opportunity Frame, and grassroots leaders form across the country working on critically important issues.