Vision
The essence of the American Dream is that every American—regardless of where they begin—has the opportunity to rise and build a better life for themselves and their family. FREOPP exists to make this dream a reality for all Americans, especially those most in need of it: our neighbors on the bottom half of the socioeconomic ladder. We do this by advocating for policies and practices grounded in freedom, innovation, and pluralism, and building bipartisan coalitions to turn those policies into law.
Mission
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) exists to empower Americans who need it most: those on the bottom half of the socioeconomic ladder.
In our view, the American Dream is a simple idea: Every individual, regardless of where they start, should have the opportunity to build a better life through hard work, personal responsibility, and a strong family and community.
Through individual liberty, free enterprise, innovation, and pluralism, America provides the best opportunities of upward mobility to those who most need it. When government is right-sized, individuals, communities, and markets can unleash their potential and create value for themselves and others.
We’re deeply mindful of the experiences of families struggling to afford a home, access quality health care, escape poverty, build a career, become financially stable, or raise children in safe and stable communities. And we believe the answer is not to abandon the principles that made America the most prosperous and upwardly mobile nation in history. It is to apply those principles more effectively to these and other issues that matter most to struggling Americans. That means removing restrictive zoning regulations to allow for more housing, advocating for free-market solutions that expand access to coverage and improve the quality of medical care, removing barriers to work for greater job creation and wage growth, and ensuring that children and their well-being are at the forefront of child welfare policy.
That conviction shapes how we work. We believe the case for free enterprise is strongest when it addresses the challenges that matter most to struggling Americans. A fair and prosperous nation lifts up the people on the bottom rungs of the ladder by empowering them to climb.
As prominent voices on the left and the right increasingly look for government intervention to solve problems, more Americans are questioning the wisdom not only of the free market system, but even the founding ideals of our nation. FREOPP offers a better path forward: evidence-based, market-oriented reforms backed by world-class research and analysis, coupled with active engagement with policymakers at the state and federal levels, in both the executive and legislative branches. We help turn good ideas into reality, and stop bad ones in their tracks.
Our Three Guiding Principles
FREOPP is independent and non-partisan, by principle. Our commitment is to the people we’re trying to help, not to any political party or elected official. FREOPP applies three guiding principles to our policy work:
- Expand freedom
Americans thrive when they are given greater agency and liberty to make decisions for themselves and their families. Limiting government helps ensure individuals and families are empowered and other institutions of society can add meaning to people’s lives. - Lift up Americans on the bottom half of the socioeconomic ladder
An economy is only as strong as its ability to uplift those at the bottom. We focus on expanding opportunities and upward mobility for those who least have it and most need it. - Policy capable of earning broad support
We prioritize commonsense reforms that can attract support across ideological and partisan lines. Our nation’s biggest challenges cannot be solved by one party alone. What’s more, there’s actually more agreement on the nature of many of the problems we research, as well as on ways to solve them, than much of today’s discourse makes it seem. We are in the business of finding, building, and acting on consensus.
Every day at FREOPP, we work to build a credible bridge between those on the left and the right who genuinely want to expand opportunity to those who least have it. By working together, we can create lasting change for American families and communities. Because that’s the only way we’ll achieve real progress: together.
We invite you to join us in this effort by subscribing to our newsletter for regular updates. If you would like to support expanding opportunity for low-income Americans, you can do so by making a contribution.