Economic Opportunity

What does it mean that everyone should have the opportunity to succeed? What is opportunity? How is it generated and sustained in the 21st Century? In this 2005 opportunity report, we try to answer these questions. Based on what we found, we also recommend ways to expand opportunity for all in Colorado.

Earning a decent living and building wealth is our next important gateway to opportunity. A job with benefits that pays at least enough for a family to be self-sufficient and to build assets is the surest path into the Cycle of Opportunity.

A financially secure and healthy retirement is our ninth and final gateway to a life of opportunity. A secure and healthy retirement should be the reward for a life of hard work and contribution to family and community.

A message from Wade Buchanan, Bell Policy Center President, outlining the Bell's agenda for the coming year: to close the student achievement gap, make college affordable, expand health care coverage, help working families, counter misguided immigration reform and influence the policy debate in the 2006 election.

What does it mean that everyone should have the opportunity to succeed? What is opportunity? How is it generated and sustained in the 21st Century? In this 2005 opportunity report, we try to answer these questions. Based on what we found, we also recommend ways to expand opportunity for all in Colorado.

The self-sufficiency standard is a more realistic measurement of what it takes to make ends meet in communities throughout Colorado. It gives policy makers and the public solid, up-to-date information to make more effective decisions.

Senate Bill 07-02 promotes opportunity by extending vital health care coverage to our most vulnerable young adults as they transition from the foster care system into adulthood. The bill does this by addressing a fundamental flaw in the foster care system, known as ???aging out.??? This refers to the sudden end of resources such as health benefits when a foster youth turns 18.

Articles: Pregnant moms quit smoking, Better medical care prevents pregnancy-related deaths, The 65 Percent Solution, CCHE requests $8.7 million in need-based aid, Increase in state funding for colleges, Low-income adults get smaller share of job training benefits, Insurance companies shed high-risk customers, Race and income affect health care, Colorado economy to add jobs, Indexing minimum wage to inflation, Companies freeze pensions

Articles: The Bell Policy Center releases Colorado: The State of Opportunity 2005 Report, National studies document the benefits of child care, Congress considers legislation to limit funding for child care, Interim committee offers ideas to expand health insurance coverage, U.S. health care system: costly and disorganized, The rich get richer as income gap widens, Despite headwinds, economists predict Colorado economy will add jobs

Articles: Legislative interim committees lay foundation for '06 session, Special state commission sets goals to improve high schools, Health care coverage hard to get for part-time, temp and contract workers, The rich reap most benefits from capital gains tax cuts, Despite low inflation, ???real??? wages remain stagnant, Congress encourages automatic enrollment in 401(k) retirement plans