Regional Leaders Launch ‘Opportunity Rising’ Coalition to Expand Economic Mobility Across Metro Atlanta

ATLANTA — November 4, 2026

The Atlanta Regional Commission, United Way of Greater Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation today launched Opportunity Rising, a broad coalition focused on expanding economic mobility in a region where too many residents still face barriers to getting ahead.

Opportunity Rising will bring a growing cohort of organizations and leaders together to learn from what’s working, track progress, and identify where greater alignment can help more people and communities move forward.

As it expands, the coalition will provide a framework to connect and build on economic mobility efforts already underway in metro Atlanta, helping effective approaches gain momentum and deliver greater impact across the region.

“Good work happening in isolation is never enough,” said Milton Little, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Atlanta. “Our futures are connected. The challenges and opportunities facing our communities don’t stop at neighborhood or county lines. Opportunity Rising brings our efforts together, so more children, families and communities have a fair chance to thrive.”

Opportunity Rising focuses on four shared priorities where working together can make a difference:

• Data: Further understand what drives economic mobility, track progress, and set long-term regional goals.
• Policy: Identify and address the systemic barriers that limit opportunity, so the region can speak with one voice.
• Investment: Align and coordinate public, private, and philanthropic dollars around best practice approaches.
• Community Voice: Make the experience of people facing barriers to mobility central to the work from the start.

The launch of Opportunity Rising follows a 2024 study by Harvard economist Raj Chetty that ranked the Atlanta region last for economic mobility among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas. Shortly after the Chetty study was published in 2025, the Blank Foundation invited the Harvard researcher to meet with Atlanta leaders focused on expanding economic opportunity. He later visited ARC to speak with leaders from across the region. Those conversations underscored both the scale of the challenge and the depth of interest in addressing it.

“Metro Atlanta is a major global economic center, with a strong economy and a high quality of life,” said Anna Roach, ARC Executive Director & CEO. “Yet, too many residents face barriers that make it harder to get ahead. Opportunity Rising is about agreeing on what success looks like for children, families and communities, and finding ways of working together to achieve it.”

Opportunity Rising is not intended to replace or duplicate the work already underway in metro Atlanta. Instead, it provides a framework to connect and build on those efforts, helping effective approaches gain momentum and deliver greater impact across the region.

“Every community across metro Atlanta has its own strengths, its own challenges and its own priorities, but we all have a stake in the future of this region,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who serves as Chair of the Atlanta Regional Commission. “The challenges facing our families do not stop at city or county lines, and neither should our efforts to solve them. Opportunity Rising is about bringing our communities to the same table, learning from one another and putting our collective strengths to work so that every family, no matter where they live in our region, has a better opportunity to thrive.”

The coalition will build on efforts already underway across the region:

• United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Eighteen Summers strategy, informed by the latest Child Well-Being Index® data, aims to create the conditions children and families need to thrive from birth through age 18.
• The City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative focuses investment at the neighborhood level, bringing public, private, philanthropic and community partners together around housing, transit, food access, education, jobs and public space.
• Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation’s Youth Development partnership with Blue Meridian Partners is advancing economic mobility for young people in four communities across Georgia, including the Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, and Savannah metro areas. Beyond this work, the foundation’s commitment to Atlanta’s Westside is advancing economic mobility for legacy residents in the English Avenue and Vine City neighborhoods through partnerships that support affordable housing, workforce development, and income enhancement.
• ARC’s Housing Forward 2035 sets a shared vision for housing in metro Atlanta and defines steps to produce more attainable housing, expand options near jobs and transit, and preserve existing affordable homes.

“When communities come together around a shared vision for success, they create the foundation for lasting change for residents,” said Fay Twersky, President of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. “Through Opportunity Rising, organizations and leaders are learning from one another, tracking progress and aligning their efforts to create jobs that advance prosperity, strengthen training and career pathways to opportunity and close gaps zip code by zip code so that everyone in the metro Atlanta region can thrive.”

Visit OpportunityRisingATL.org to learn more.

About Opportunity Rising

Opportunity Rising is a coalition working to expand economic mobility in the Atlanta region. It brings organizations and leaders together to learn from what’s working, track progress toward shared goals, and align ideas and resources so more people and communities can get ahead. Learn more at OpportunityRisingATL.org.