Opportunity America
Opportunity America is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit think tank that produces policy research, publications, and interactive training tools on workforce education, community college reform, apprenticeship, and economic mobility, serving federal and state policymakers, educators, and employer coalitions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Opportunity America does
Opportunity America is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank founded around 2014 (note: the firmographics record also lists a 2000 year_founded; the company's own timeline and legal records support 2014) and operating with 1-10 employees, focused on promoting economic mobility for poor and working Americans through workforce education, community college reform, career and technical education (CTE), apprenticeship, and immigrant entrepreneurship policy. The organization is led by President & CEO Tamar Jacoby, a former Newsweek and New York Times op-ed page journalist and author, who also founded ImmigrationWorks USA prior to Opportunity America. Its primary outputs are policy research, publications, conferences and convenings, and the Jobs and Careers Coalition, a managed employer-advocacy coalition that advances a skills agenda on Capitol Hill.
The organization's product portfolio consists of policy publications and reports (e.g., 'The indispensable institution' community college survey, the K-12 reform report, 'This Way Up,' and 'Displaced'), interactive training tools (the 'Where Could Apprenticeship Take You?' apprentice game and the 'Master Mentor Challenge' mentor training game), and the Community College Survey Interactive Data Portal. It does not develop or sell technology products; the interactive tools are educational web experiences, with at least one funded through a Department of Labor apprenticeship contract routed through the Urban Institute. Its distribution channels are its own website, national media op-eds (WSJ, Bloomberg, Inside Higher Ed, Community College Daily), co-sponsored convenings, and partner-amplified events.
The business model is grant-funded nonprofit operations: revenue comes from foundation grants (e.g., Lumina Foundation for the community college survey) and government contracts (e.g., Department of Labor via Urban Institute for apprenticeship mentor training), rather than from product sales, memberships, or fees. Opportunity America differentiates through a bipartisan, cross-spectrum approach, working with AEI, Brookings, Manhattan Institute, Progressive Policy Institute, Urban Institute, Lumina, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Key counterparties served — rather than customers in a commercial sense — are federal and state policymakers, community/technical colleges, employers, and educators, with low-income and working Americans as the target beneficiaries of its policy agenda.
Opportunity America firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Opportunity America
- Legal name
- Opportunity America
- Website
- https://opportunityamericaonline.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Opportunity America is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit think tank that produces policy research, publications, and interactive training tools on workforce education, community college reform, apprenticeship, and economic mobility, serving federal and state policymakers, educators, and employer coalitions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Opportunity America industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Policy Research and Advocacy
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Professional and Management Development Training (61143)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Leadership, Service Learning & Volunteer-to-Career Pathways (EDAMAKAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Mentorship & Coaching (Career, Academic, Industry-Specific) (EDAMAKAA)
Keywords
Where Opportunity America is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Opportunity America business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Marketing channels5 records
Opportunity America product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Opportunity America is a Washington-based nonprofit think tank whose principal activities are research, policy development, dissemination of policy ideas, and consensus-building around economic mobility for poor and working Americans. Its outputs include policy publications on workforce education, community college reform, career and technical education (CTE), apprenticeship and immigrant entrepreneurship; the Jobs and Careers Coalition advocating a skills agenda on Capitol Hill; conferences, briefings and roundtables; and three interactive online tools (an apprenticeship simulation game, a mentor training game, and a community college survey data portal).
Product overview
Opportunity America is a Washington-based think tank and policy organization, not a technology product company. Its primary offerings are research publications, policy reports, advocacy coalitions, and interactive educational tools. The organization produces reports on workforce education, community colleges, apprenticeship, and economic mobility; manages the Jobs and Careers Coalition to advocate skills agenda on Capitol Hill; and delivers interactive tools including the 'Where Could Apprenticeship Take You?' game, the 'Master Mentor Challenge' training game, and a Community College Survey Interactive Data Portal. These offerings form a portfolio of policy research and workforce development resources rather than a unified software product or platform.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Jobs and Careers Coalition (JCC): Coalition of employers and employer associations working to improve policy on workforce issues, advocating for skills agenda on Capitol Hill
- The New Ukraine Project
Products and services
- Where Could Apprenticeship Take You? Interactive simulation game in which users walk in the shoes of a new apprentice and make day-to-day decisions faced in apprenticeship. Targeted at prospective apprentices, mentors and workforce education audiences engaging with Opportunity America's apprenticeship work.
- Master Mentor Challenge Interactive game for mentors learning the ropes of apprenticeship mentoring, walking through day-to-day decisions involved in mentoring. Supports Opportunity America's Department of Labor-funded mentor training work delivered in partnership with the Urban Institute.
- Community College Survey Interactive Data Portal Interactive online portal providing access to survey results on community and technical college workforce education innovation, with aggregated state-level results and a college finder for researchers, policymakers, educators and employers.
- Jobs and Careers Coalition (JCC) Coalition program that recruits and coordinates employers and employer associations to advocate for workforce, apprenticeship, workforce Pell and career education appropriations and policy. Provides a coordinated employer voice in federal workforce policy debates.
- Policy Research Publications (reports, op-eds, books) Series of policy reports, papers, op-eds and books produced by Opportunity America and distributed free of charge to policymakers, educators, employers and the public on workforce education, community college reform, CTE, apprenticeship, immigrant entrepreneurship and working-class economic mobility.
Companies that use Opportunity America
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Opportunity America technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Opportunity America partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.
- American Enterprise Institute (AEI)coreCosponsor of major conferences and publications including the 'This Way Up' book launch and the Working Class Group study. AEI is a prominent Washington think tank that partners on bipartisan policy initiatives.
- Brookings InstitutioncoreCosponsor of the Working Class Group (2016-2018) and joint publication 'Work, skills, community: Restoring opportunity for the working class'. Brookings is a leading bipartisan policy think tank.
- Lumina FoundationcorePrimary partner in the Community College Survey project (2021), which fielded a national survey of 477 community and technical colleges on workforce education. Lumina Foundation focuses on increasing access to higher education.
- Wilder ResearchcoreResearch partner for the community college survey, providing data collection and analysis support for the 477-institution national survey on workforce education.
- Manhattan InstitutesecondaryPartner on CTE and education reform publications including 'The new CTE: NYC as laboratory for America' and 'What works: English-language learning in America'. Manhattan Institute is a center-right policy think tank.
- Progressive Policy InstitutesecondaryPresident Tamar Jacoby serves as director of the New Ukraine Project at PPI, conducting policy work on Ukraine issues separate from OA's core workforce focus.
- Jobs and Careers CoalitioncoreCoalition of employers and employer associations managed by Opportunity America to advocate a skills agenda on Capitol Hill, bringing employer voice to workforce policy discussions.
- Urban InstitutesecondaryPartner on apprenticeship mentor training programs, funded by Department of Labor contract. Also cosponsored events on registered apprenticeship.
- Federal Reserve Bank of DallassecondaryPublished research on community colleges and workforce education in Dallas Fed's Southwest Economy publication.
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Opportunity America competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- MDRC: Nonprofit social policy research organization focused on rigorous evaluations of workforce, education, and antipoverty programs — highly relevant adjacent peer for OA's community college and apprenticeship research.
Direct peers
- Manhattan Institute: Center-right policy think tank that has co-published with Opportunity America on CTE and English-language learning, directly comparable in scale, mission, and policy focus.
- Brookings Institution: A major Washington think tank that has co-sponsored Opportunity America's Working Class Group and joint publications on workforce and community college policy, operating in the same economic mobility and education policy space.
- Lumina Foundation: Foundation focused on higher education access and completion that served as the primary partner on OA's national Community College Survey, addressing overlapping audiences of community colleges and workforce policy.
- Progressive Policy Institute: Centrist think tank where OA's president Tamar Jacoby directs the New Ukraine Project, making PPI directly comparable as a similarly sized policy shop focused on cross-ideational economic and workforce policy.
- Urban Institute: Nonpartisan research organization that partners with Opportunity America on DOL-funded apprenticeship mentor training programs and joint research on workforce education.
- American Enterprise Institute (AEI): Prominent Washington think tank and core partner of Opportunity America on bipartisan workforce and education initiatives including the 'This Way Up' book and Working Class Group study.
Broad incumbents
- Aspen Institute: Large nonpartisan policy organization whose Workforce Strategies Initiative and education programs operate in the same economic mobility and skills policy space as Opportunity America.
- New America: Bipartisan think tank with major education and workforce programs (e.g., New America Education Program) that overlap with Opportunity America's mission on community colleges and career pathways.
- Center for American Progress: Larger progressive think tank that produces substantial work on workforce development, apprenticeship, and community college policy, often intersecting with OA's agenda from the left.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Opportunity America social profiles
Digital presenceOpportunity America financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Opportunity America leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Opportunity America funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Opportunity America M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Opportunity America
What does Opportunity America do?
Opportunity America is a Washington-based nonprofit think tank whose principal activities are research, policy development, dissemination of policy ideas, and consensus-building around economic mobility for poor and working Americans. Its outputs include policy publications on workforce education, community college reform, career and technical education (CTE), apprenticeship and immigrant entrepreneurship; the Jobs and Careers Coalition advocating a skills agenda on Capitol Hill; conferences, briefings and roundtables; and three interactive online tools (an apprenticeship simulation game, a mentor training game, and a community college survey data portal).
Is Opportunity America a public or private company?
Opportunity America is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Opportunity America founded?
Opportunity America was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Opportunity America based?
Opportunity America is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Opportunity America's main competitors?
MDRC is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Manhattan Institute, Brookings Institution, Lumina Foundation, Progressive Policy Institute, Urban Institute and American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Broad incumbents are Aspen Institute, New America and Center for American Progress.
Does Opportunity America have an API?
No public API is recorded for Opportunity America.
What industry is Opportunity America in?
Opportunity America's product category is Policy Research and Advocacy. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAKAJ, Leadership, Service Learning & Volunteer-to-Career Pathways, with a secondary code of EDAMAKAA, Mentorship & Coaching (Career, Academic, Industry-Specific). Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 8200.