Two principles form the foundation for our policy agenda:

1. Opportunity finance institutions are important to expanding economic growth and improving markets; and
2. Government investment in opportunity finance is a highly productive use of government resources.

Our nation’s lack of an effective national policy for helping low-income and low-wealth people and markets join the economic mainstream is hurting our country. We need to break the logjam and work in a bipartisan way to connect development approaches to long-term economic growth.

Our policy agenda is based on the principle of inclusion—in particular, market inclusion: the idea that market forces can produce economic opportunities for people outside the economic mainstream when wealth holders use capital to produce social and political change as well as economic yields. Our policy goals strive, ultimately, to make the market work better and for more people and communities.

We believe the federal government can and should intervene productively and promote the public good of increased productivity and inclusiveness—our government can encourage activity in new markets, adopt tax policies that correct for the "true" cost of market activities, and invest in organizations that make markets work equitably for all people and places.¹

The federal government’s strategies should:

• Build on proven private-sector successes where possible. The CDFI Fund in the U.S. Department of the Treasury works because a network of seasoned financial intermediaries—not government bureaucrats—control the strategic use of government seed investment capital to leverage both private and government sources of capital. The CDFI Fund is unique among federal policy approaches.
• Build on market strengths rather than reward market deficiencies. By seasoning markets outside the economic mainstream, opportunity finance helps those markets join the economic mainstream and, at the same time, bring the mainstream into those markets. Productive policy decisions build on the things that work instead of simply rejecting innovations that fail.
• Reward good results. Resources are scarce, and we cannot afford to waste them on ideas that do not work. Government needs to know what the money is supposed to be used for, how it is used, and whether it worked. Performance must be measured by results, and results must be gauged by outcomes, not activities.
• Recognize that the private sector cannot and will not solve all economic development and growth problems. Private-public partnerships with federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as nonprofit service providers, are key.

To help the federal government focus on solutions that work, Opportunity Finance Network will pursue the following course to implement our policy agenda:

• We are finding common ground among diverse agendas across the political spectrum. Our work stands on its results, which speak powerfully to the middle 70% of the political spectrum. This “70% solution” is a broad and compelling base that will stand us well regardless of which way the political winds blow.
• We are redefining the debate. Opportunity finance is a critical engine for the nation’s economic growth and inclusion. Policy that supports opportunity finance is not subsidy; it is a sound financial investment for the federal government and is accountable to both financial and consumer markets.
• We are introducing a small number of policy recommendations to bring hundreds of millions or billions of dollars of capital to opportunity finance. By focusing on what we do well—where we add significant value—and leveraging our relationships with a diverse range of private and government partners, we will pursue a select few policy proposals that will garner broad bipartisan support, help the federal government use its resources wisely, adapt or create systems and structures that help transform domestic policy, and produce significant and lasting results that benefit low-income and low-wealth people and communities.

¹For more information regarding markets and marketing principles, see Robert Weissbourd, “Into the Economic Mainstream, A Discussion Paper on Bipartisan Policies for Inclusive Economic Growth,” (Philadelphia, Opportunity Finance Network, September 2006). To obtain a copy, click here. This paper is the final product of a policy forum held by Opportunity Finance Network and CFED in March 2006.