Opportunity Nation and PwC US Join Forces on National Report, the 2017 Opportunity Index
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Opportunity Nation and PwC US Join Forces on National Report, the 2017 Opportunity Index
Opportunity Index to include new economic indicators in 2017 release
WASHINGTON, SEPT. 26, 2017 – Opportunity Nation today announced they are working with PwC to develop three new indicators specific to the business sector for the 2017 Opportunity Index, which is scheduled to debut in December 2017. The updated Index will now include economic factors like jobs diversity and automation. The new indicators are designed to help business leaders find ways to expand opportunity in the context of many community conditions reflected in the Opportunity Index, one of the most powerful publicly-available tools available to help understand community conditions for opportunity nationwide. The collaboration will also include the addition of two new analysis functions.
The Opportunity Index calculates 16 indicators on the economy, education and civic life, and ranks every state and grades more than 2,700 counties, representing 99 percent of the population, with an Opportunity Score each year. The three new business indicators will be added to the Index’s existing economic dimension, which currently includes: unemployment rate, median household income, poverty rate, and income inequality. The 2017 Opportunity Index was designed by Opportunity Nation in collaboration with Child Trends and sponsored by PwC.
“Opportunity Nation is thrilled PwC will help us add even more depth to the Opportunity Index,” said Monique Rizer, Executive Director for Opportunity Nation. “Business-specific indicators in the 2017 Opportunity Index will improve our ability to assess where opportunity gaps exist in this country, and we can continue working alongside our Opportunity Nation Coalition members to identify solutions that will give more people the chance to achieve the American Dream regardless of where they were born.”
“PwC’s capabilities in Artificial Intelligence, especially machine learning and natural language processing, will lead to the addition of two new analyses: a county cluster analysis that helps counties compare themselves to their peers, and a news article analysis so counties can understand the key themes being discussed in their regions under each of the dimension areas,” said Dr. Anand Rao, Principal and Global Artificial Intelligence lead at PwC.
“PwC is proud to provide our resources, experiences and skills to the 2017 Opportunity Index, which provides useful data for any organization or person who cares about improving communities so more people can participate in a changing economy,” said Shannon Schuyler, Principal, Responsible Business Leadership and Chief Purpose Officer at PwC and President, PwC Charitable Foundation, Inc. “We’re committed to using our capabilities for measureable, wide-ranging societal impact, and are hopeful that adding the new business indicators to the Opportunity Index will provide fresh insight that will lead to solutions to the complex problems that impact our society and a more prosperous future for even more Americans.”
Additionally, Opportunity Nation is working with Child Trends, a leading research organization, to collect and analyze all indicators for the 2017 Index. Child Trends has extensive experience developing and analyzing indicators of children’s well-being and the contexts for their development. Beyond gauging economic indicators, the Index also measures education and civic factors that impact access to opportunity, including: preschool enrollment; on-time high school graduation; postsecondary completion; disconnected youth rate; violent crime rate; and access to medical doctors, among others.
About the Opportunity Index
The Opportunity Index is the nation’s first – and only – multidimensional tool to measure opportunity. Connecting multiple economic, educational and civic factors, the Index is a powerful way for communities to track and advance opportunity. The Opportunity Index focuses on factors that are responsive to policy and practice changes that can improve people’s lives and strengthen communities. It was created for national, state and county actors to measure progress and bring cross-sector groups into a conversation about opportunity in their community along the various indicators.
About Opportunity Nation
Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, national campaign comprised of more than 350 cross-sector organizations working together to expand economic mobility and close the opportunity gap in America. Opportunity Nation’s mission is to restore the promise of the American Dream by ensuring that everyone – regardless of where they were born – has an equal opportunity to succeed.
About PwC
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 223,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more and tell us what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.
About Child Trends
Child Trends is the nation’s leading research organization focused exclusively on improving the lives and prospects of children, youth and their families. For 36 years, decision makers have relied on our rigorous research, unbiased analyses and clear communications to improve public policies and interventions that serve children and families. We have more than 120 staff in three offices and multiple locations around the country, including our headquarters in Bethesda, MD. childtrends.org
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Opportunity Nation
Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, national campaign comprised of more than 350 cross-sector organizations working together to expand economic mobility and close the opportunity gap in America. Opportunity Nation envisions the United States as a nation where everyone – regardless of where they were born – has equal access to opportunity, economic mobility, and success at all stages of life.
