New Opportunity Nation Coalition Partner!

I am very pleased to announce the news that this summer, Empowerment Through Education became a Coalition Partner with Opportunity Nation. You can view our partner “snapshot” listed here on the list of Coalition Partners.  The mission of the organization is as follows:

Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, cross-sector national campaign made up of more than 250 non-profits, businesses, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, community organizations, and individuals all working together to expand economic opportunity and close the opportunity gap in America. 

Collectively, our partners support, engage, and reach more than 100 million Americans in every corner of the country.

Opportunity Nation’s guiding principle is that the zip code you’re born into shouldn’t determine your chances for success, and that when social mobility grinds to a halt, we are in grave danger of losing the best of America.  That is the unfortunate predicament that our country finds itself in today, and we’re working to see that this tide is reversed immediately and permanently. 

In September, Amy Carrier attended the annual Opportunity Nation 2012 Summit in Washington, DC where other social justice leaders, change-makers  news leaders (including Arianna Huffington), celebrities and youth alike were all in attendance.  Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick gave a dynamic speech at the summit and many new connections were made.  I took my own former student, Antionetta (as a newly accepted Opportunity Scholar!), who is now a strong supporter and advocate for the work done by Empowerment Through Education.

Opportunity Nation also launched the new and updated Opportunity Index [“the nation’s first – and only – tool designed to provide a snapshot of what opportunity looks like at the state and county levels”] at the Summit, illustrating the far-spread impact of the work we are all doing across the nation.  Tremendous work has been done, county by county, across the entire United States.  Click here to visit the Opportunity Index and check your own county’s progress.

There’s lots of work to be done – and we are the ones to do it!  Let’s do this!

Amy Carrier and her former student, Antionetta Kelley, a new Opportunity Scholar and representative of Empowerment Through Education at the 2012 Summit

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick delivering his speech and telling us what we didn’t hear in his DNC speech about the President Obama’s visit to Orchard Gardens K-8 school in Boston.

Huffingtonpost.com founder Arianna Huffington giving a very appropriate speech about this call to action and what she is willing to do to provide a forum for the change-makers in the room (check out the many new education contributors of Huff Post!)