Open Communities Alliance envisions a day when an individual's neighborhood does not forecast life outcomes.
So much depends on where we live. Fifty years of social science research confirms that where you live matters in your access to critical resources that shape life opportunities. Geography can dictate the quality of the schools your children attend, your access to healthy food, your family’s personal safety, and connections to social networks that can lead you to jobs.
What is Opportunity?
Areas with an abundance of these resources are “high opportunity areas.” Areas that need more of these resources are “low opportunity areas.” Access to opportunity in Connecticut varies significantly depending on race and ethnicity. The Alliance is dedicated to bringing resources to lower opportunity areas and linking to higher opportunity areas people who historically have not had access to them. More about the Opportunity Philosophy.
Inequality of Opportunity.
Some racial and ethnic groups are much more likely to live in low opportunity areas: In Connecticut, 81% of Blacks and 79% of Latinos as compared to 25% of Whites and 44% of Asians.