Opportunity Arkansas
Opportunity Arkansas is a right-wing think tank founded by Nicholas Horton in August 2022 with a stated mission of "Renewing the Land of Opportunity by simplifying government and solving generational problems — for the next generation."[1] According to the organizations website, Opportunity Arkansas is comprised of two organizations: Opportunity Arkansas Action, which is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization and Opportunity Arkansas Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) research organization.[1]
The organization states their goals are to:[1]
- "Accelerate entry into the workforce and reduce the cost of work for all Arkansans"
- "Put students first and parents back in charge of education"
- "Infuse accountability into the Arkansas Parole Board and achieve justice for victims"
- "Protect Arkansas kids from the broken foster care system and preserve families"
- "Reduce the size and scope of state government"
- "Prioritize the truly needy in the welfare system"
Arkansas Times calls Opportunity Arkansas a "school-voucher-pushing, welfare-targeting public policy group headed by conservative crusader Nicholas Horton".[2]
Contents
News and Controversies
Opportunity Arkansas Opposes Education Reform
KATV reports that Opportunity Arkansas is opposing an ammendment to the Arkansas Constitution's Education Article proposed by AR Kids, which is gathering signatures for a November 2024 ballot initiative aimed at reforms like accessible Pre-K education and requiring private schools receiving public funds to meet the same standards as public schools. Opportunity Arkansas cites concerns about funding for these welfare programs and religious freedom.[3]
Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Debra Hobbs, a former Arkansas legislator who serves on the Opportunity Arkansas advisory board has ties to ALEC.
| About ALEC |
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ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.
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Ties to the SPN
Opportunity Arkansas is listed as an affiliate member of the State Policy Network.[4] On their website, Opportunity Arkansas boasts that they received the 2023 SPN Network Award for Education Freedom as well being the SPN Communications Excellence Award 2023 winner.[5] Additionally, Opportunity Arkansas received $23,000 from the SPN in 2023. SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million.[6] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[7]
In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[8]
A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[9]
Funding
Opportunity Arkansas does not disclose its donors, but some of its funding sources are known through IRS tax filings. Known funders of Opportunity Arkansas include:
- Atlas Economic Research Foundation: $15,308 (2023)
- Fiscal Sponsorship Allies Inc: $20,145 (2022)
- State Policy Network: $23,000 (2022)
- William A and Genevieve H Strong Foundation Trust: $23,000 (2023)
Personnel
As of July 2024:[1]
Staff
- Nicholas Horton, Founder & CEO
- Hayden Dublois, Visiting Economist
- Leah Bull, Operations & Development Director
- Hollis Wakefield, Public Relations Associate
- Will Teeter, Digital Media Fellow
- Josh Ramirez, Research Intern
Board of Trustees
- Christian Olson, Chairman
- Betty Jane Strong
- David Fort
- Joseph Wood
- Nic Horton
Advisory Board
- Dr. Gregory H. Bledsoe
- Akash Chougule
- John Nabholz
- Will Rockefeller
- James Franko
- Johnathan Small
- Cody Hiland
- Debra Hobbs
- Fritz Steiger
- Andrew Brown
- Kevin Tipton
- Ryan Walters
- Joseph Wood
- Dr. Jim Carr
- Bilenda Harris-Ritter
- Lance Kemper
- Rep. Grant Hodges
- Tommy Moll
Contact Information
EIN: 88-3938322
Opportunity Arkansas
823 Parkway Street
Conway, AR 72034
Website: https://www.opportunityarkansas.org/
Phone: (501) 500-1075
Email: info@opportunityarkansas.org
Facebook: @Opportunity Arkansas
X: @OppArkansas
Articles and Resources
Related CMD articles
- Juliana Broad, Walmart Heirs, Freedom Foundation Behind Latest Attack on Arkansas Teachers, ExposedbyCMD, June 29th, 2023.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Opportunity Arkansas, About, organizational website, accessed July, 2024.
- ↑ Austin Gelder, Conservative group’s own polling shows sinking support for LEARNS and lawmakers, Arkansas Times, October 5, 2023.
- ↑ Kaelin Clay, For AR Kids seeks ballot change, faces opposition from Opportunity Arkansas, KATV, July 2, 2024.
- ↑ State Policy Network, Directory, organizational website, accessed August, 2024.
- ↑ Opportunity Arkansas, Home, organizational website, accessed August, 2024.
- ↑ David Armiak, State Policy Network and Affiliates Raises $152 Million Annually to Push Right-Wing Policies, ExposedbyCMD, September 30, 2022.
- ↑ Rebekah Wilce, Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
- ↑ Jane Mayer, Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, The New Yorker, November 15, 2013.
- ↑ Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, The Guardian, December 5, 2013.
