The Hope Street Group is a 501(c)3 nonpartisan nonprofit organization founded in 2001 with the goal of expanding opportunity in a growing economy - moving towards what we refer to as an "Opportunity Economy." In an Opportunity Economy, all people have fair access to markets for jobs, homes, and capital; all children have educational opportunities that allow them to fully realize their potential; and government burdens are lifted - especially for those who are just beginning to develop their earning power and build their savings. In an Opportunity Economy, people are encouraged to take risks and invest in themselves.

Our Beliefs

The Hope Street Group promotes an Opportunity Economy by engaging a new generation of business executives and professionals in policy development and outreach. Our activities are based on four central beliefs:

Belief #1: Economic growth is best sustained by expanding opportunity--and vice versa.

Only robust economic growth can deliver new avenues of opportunity like those that arose in the late 1990s. On the flip side, broad-based opportunity fuels greater economic growth; as human capital, assets, and earning power are distributed more broadly, the economy gains from the contributions of all Americans (e.g., sustained growth in the 1950s and 1960s driven by an expanding middle class).

Belief #2: An Opportunity Economy has several defining themes:

• Level playing field capitalism: A competitive market economy with low barriers to participation, policies that encourage investment and work, and responsible fiscal policies.
• Investments in human capital: Ensuring that all children are equipped to participate in our society, and that adults have a fair shot at learning the new skills required by our dynamic economy.
• Prosperity escalators: Policies that help young adults and families to increase earning power, savings, and assets - by encouraging home ownership and savings, and reducing tax burdens.
• Social trampoline: Policies, such as portable pension policies, that allow people to bounce back from failure, and thus allow ordinary people to take risks such as changing jobs, starting a business, or going to college.

Belief #3: Our national debate should focus on achieving an Opportunity Economy.

In the 1980s and 1990s, with leadership from both parties, America made tremendous gains in lowering interest rates, strengthening international free trade agreements, establishing work-based social policies, increasing the productivity and earning power of American workers, and growing the American economy. Since then, however, partisanship has increased, and both parties have resorted to attacks on businesses and market-based principles. America's future depends on a return to the post-1970s consensus that led to so many years of growth.

Belief #4: A new generation of business leaders has an essential role to play.

A new generation of business professionals and executives has evolved in the dynamic economy of the past 20 years. With changes in technology and globalization, businesses and industries have been forced to transform at an unprecedented pace to meet new organizational challenges. The generation that lived and worked through these transformations is well equipped to face the challenges of building an Opportunity Economy by realigning the mindsets of interest groups, activists, and political leaders in favor of opportunity-expanding policies. We can play this role by articulating and advancing ideas - many of which have already been formed in think tanks on both the Left and Right - and using those ideas to build new coalitions and new approaches. Our families, communities, businesses, and shareholders stand to gain the most from an Opportunity Economy - or lose if we cannot successfully complete the transition. We can and should reshape the national debate so that opportunity and growth become central to the economic agenda across the political spectrum.