WHO WE ARE

In the Spring of 2010, the Center for Public Policy Priorities and RAISE Texas, two leading Texas advocates for increased economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income Texans, teamed up to create the OpportunityTexas initiative with generous support from the Ford, F.B. Heron and Charles Stewart Mott Foundations, CFED, the Texas High School Project and Citi. The organizations joined forces to develop and advance a more comprehensive strategy to move more Texas families beyond living paycheck-to-paycheck and toward greater economic opportunity through education, saving, and asset building. The initiative has three main goals:

• Creating jobs;
• Increasing income, and
• Promoting savings.

The initiative seeks to increase college access and success through new pathways that enable more students and families to save and build assets. OpportunityTexas aims to catalyze large-scale action and innovation in these areas using statewide platforms.

To achieve broader opportunity in Texas, we are working to leverage new investments and developing new partnerships, between the business community, higher education, nonprofits, the public sector, philanthropy, employers, and Texas students in kindergarten through college.

WHAT WE DO

OpportunityTexas is:

• Forging new partnerships with the K-12 system to increase the financial capability of young Texans through relevant and integrated financial education.
• Working to increase consumer access to safe financial products that build financial success.
• Promoting savings at the workplace, home, school, and at tax time.
• Encouraging employers and public-benefit programs to use direct deposit as the default payment option and low-fee, savings-capable debit cards.
• Working to open new channels for Texans to prepare both financially and academically for college, with the goal of creating career pathways for today's college students to obtain good jobs and increase earnings.
• Strengthening access to public benefits, work supports and technical skills training for adults to increase their financial stability and assets.

Altogether, these opportunities can build and maintain a strong middle class and grow our economy.