The desire of all citizens to improve their lives and provide opportunities for the next generation is a unifying force across the nation. However, access to opportunities to achieve the American dream are not readily available to all. The Bradley Impact Fund supports champions for economic mobility like the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and the Archbridge Institute whose research and policy solutions explain the complexities of this issue and recommend viable alternatives.
Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP): Expanding Free Markets to Make Life Affordable for All
FREOPP is committed to expanding opportunity to those who least have it though research and advocacy. Its policy solutions in the areas of criminal justice, education, energy, financial services, housing and social mobility focus on empowering Americans living below the median income level and increasing their access to affordable choices.
One of FREOPP’s major areas of focus is healthcare. FREOPP has shown how private-sector innovation can make healthcare affordable for all Americans, including greater competition in drug prices and hospital care, health independence for veterans, Medicare and Medicaid reform, and more, often emphasizing the need for bipartisan collaboration to achieve a filibuster-proof majority.
In 2020, FREOPP introduced the World Index of Healthcare Innovation, a first-of-its-kind ranking of 31 national health care systems. Not surprisingly, while America ranked first for Choice and for Science and Technology, it ranked second-to-last in Fiscal Sustainability. By spotlighting the role of innovation in improving health outcomes, FREOPP hopes to expand public healthcare debate beyond universal health insurance coverage.
Learn more at FREOPP.org.
FREOPP continues to make a data-driven case for reopening the economy during COVID-19 with a focus on the value of in-person education for at-risk children and rural Americans.
Archbridge Institute: Removing Barriers to the American Dream
The Archbridge Institute works to empower individuals to achieve better, richer, and fuller lives by identifying and removing barriers that constrain their potential. Archbridge conducts rigorous academic research, advances sound public policy solutions, and concentrates on reviving the spirit of entrepreneurship in America.
Recent Archbridge policy and insight papers have critically examined:
- The need to reduce marriage penalties and make children the first priority in order to accomplish meaningful welfare reform
- The negative impact of occupational licensing laws on citizens trying to enter the job market in Alabama and Iowa
- How a comprehensive approach to skill development would be a contributing solution to structural poverty and inequality in America
- Americans’ views on the American Dream, equality of opportunity and social mobility in the recently released American Dream 2021 Snapshot: How Americans view the American Dream and Economic Mobility report.
A primary new initiative for Archbridge is the creation of a social mobility index that will rank U.S. states based on several factors indicative of social mobility. Gonzalo Schwarz, President and CEO of the Archbridge Institute, questioned the indicators chosen for the World Economic Forum’s 2020 social mobility report, stating in his commentary, “One of the main issues with the index is that many of the pillars that comprise it lack a proper causal analysis, let alone reasonable link, to improved social mobility….The report has focused too much on inequality of outcomes instead of inequality of opportunity properly understood.”
With its own social mobility index, Archbridge aims to define the indicators of upward mobility with more validity and encourage state policymakers to undertake effective legislative reform.
For more information, visit archbridgeinstitute.org.
74% of Americans say that they have either achieved the American Dream or are on their way to achieving it. 66% say equality means equality before the law and people having a fair chance to pursue opportunities regardless of where they started.
- American Dream 2021 Snapshot: How Americans view the American Dream and Economic Mobility
