Opportunity is a core American value, and re-starting the engine of opportunity will require working across sectors, collaboratively. There is no silver bullet.

Learn more about the work of our partner Jumpstart, whose innovative work aims to close the achievement gap among young children.

Learn more about the work of our partner, The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning, which helps adults obtain upward mobility through education that strengthens the workforce and, in turn, the economy.

Learn more about the work of our partner the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, which is reinventing an underinvested community in San Diego through their mission of "resident ownership of neighborhood change."

I had never been exposed to the non-profit atmosphere until I walked into the office of Be the Change, Inc. Thanks to a close friend who recommended me for this opportunity (there it is again), I was taken out of my art school world and placed in a environment filled with passion for social change, research, and campaigning for national support.

At the ripe age of 17 I took on the role, along with two of my high school classmates, of co-president of the African Education Program (AEP), a non-profit 501c(3) organization. I grew up with the desire to engage in community service and was always looking for different ways to serve, so when the opportunity to create AEP presented itself, I did not hesitate.

I am a 2011 Memphis Teach For America Corps member and I am teaching to close the achievement gap. I am a biracial female who was blessed enough to attend excellent schools that really set me on the path to become part of such an amazing organization. What is hard to swallow is that there are millions of children, just like me, who, because of their circumstances, are unable to experience the privilege of attending school.

During my first year in art school, I stumbled upon a special organization while working on a design education research project. Youth Design is a summer internship program for urban area high school students to link their talents and passions of design to a professional work environment.

For the past few weeks, numerous dedicated youth have submitted photos to the OpportunityNation website to represent their American dreams and their American realities. And wow, did we learn a great deal about what young people are seeing.

When I told people I was working at an organization called “Be The Change,” their response was always the same - “You would!” My tango with social change work has been a consistent one-two step for the past five or so years, and it seems as though it all coalesced when I chose to intern at Be The Change, Inc.