FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2024
CONTACT
J. Robertson, Public Affairs Director
james@opportunityarkansas.org
OPPORTUNITY ARKANSAS RELEASES ‘ROADMAP TO OPPORTUNITY 2025’
CONWAY, AR – Opportunity Arkansas has released its Roadmap to Opportunity 2025, a blueprint to sustain Arkansas’s recent conservative progress and continue the momentum going into the next year.
A sequel to OA’s 2023 Roadmap, this latest version provides detailed updates on the historic conservative progress of the last two years—including the passage of universal education freedom through the LEARNS Act, parole reform through the Protect Arkansas Act, and unprecedented income tax cuts—and unveils dozens of new Arkansas-specific solutions within each of the organization’s six Pathways to Opportunity.
These homegrown solutions were developed through extensive research, analysis, stakeholder conversations, and vetting.
Key recommendations include:
- Modernizing Arkansas's outdated and overgrown Obamacare Medicaid program to prioritize work and protect the truly needy;
- Providing relief to entrepreneurs, rewarding hard work, and reducing the cost of living by eliminating the grocery tax, small business franchise tax, and continuing down the path of income tax elimination;
- Preserving and enhancing education freedom for the next generation;
- Simplifying state government by instituting real spending restraint, regulatory reform, and providing transparency for voters at the ballot;
- Protecting and preserving families by prioritizing prevention and reunification in the child welfare system; and
- Bringing real accountability to the Board of Corrections through transparency and term limits, and prioritizing justice for victims.
The roadmap emphasizes the importance of maintaining Arkansas’s momentum while addressing still-pressing issues such as low workforce participation, high violent crime, and government dependency.
Since its founding in 2022, 27 of Opportunity Arkansas's policy recommendations have been adopted.
OA Founder and CEO Nic Horton offered the following statement about today's news:
“Two years ago, Arkansas was at a crossroads, battling record levels of crime, dependency, and an education system that trapped families in failing schools. Thankfully, we chose to start digging our way out of these generational problems and we proved what’s possible when we work together, reject ‘the way we’ve always done things,’ and take new paths–without losing sight of who we are as a people.
It’s important to recognize and celebrate this progress, and we’re doing that with this 2025 Roadmap.
But this roadmap also presents the reality to all Arkansans, and especially policymakers, that we are at another impasse: the question is no longer 'Can we do it?' but 'Are we done?'
As for Opportunity Arkansas, the answer is a resounding 'No.' We aren't done; not by a long shot. And that's why we spent months talking with stakeholders, crafting these homegrown ideas, and vetting them to ensure they're right for Arkansas and will continue our progress as a state.
From modernizing our broken Obamacare welfare system and beyond, these ideas will solve generational problems that have been holding Arkansas back for far too long. And we stand ready to partner with other problem-solvers to continue the momentum."
OA’s Roadmap to Opportunity 2025 is available here.
For meetings, bookings, or interviews, contact J. Robertson via email at james@opportunityarkansas.org.
About Opportunity Arkansas Foundation
Opportunity Arkansas Foundation is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization on a mission to renew the Land of Opportunity by simplifying government and solving generational problems for the next generation. OA stands ready to partner with state policymakers who share these goals. To learn more, visit www.OpportunityArkansas.org.
