Economic opportunity issues

Minimum wage | Self-sufficiency | Public assistance | Housing

Unemployment insurance | Payday lending | EITC | Savings | Opportunity Lost

Bell's 2004 annual report

Opportunity Lost:
When Hard Work Isn't Enough for Colorado's Families

More than one in five working families in Colorado struggle to get by in jobs that do not meet their basic needs. Colorado does not invest enough in programs that help working adults gain the skills and education to escape poverty and contribute more to the state's economy. Opportunity Lost draws on a database of 230 indicators and includes a report card that ranks Colorado's performance in two dozen areas that impact the working poor.

The 2004 Opportunity Lost report, April 2004
Full report (52 pgs, 5 MB)
Backup data for the report (29 pgs)
Press release - Bell Policy Center report highlights plight of low-income working families in Colorado, April 21, 2004
Commentary - Working poor need a hand up the ladder: Colorado does too little to promote self-sufficiency, The Boulder Daily Camera, April 25, 2004
PowerPoint presentation - The 2004 Opportunity Lost report (PDF format)

Opportunity Lost: A one-year update, June 13, 2005
Issue Brief - The state of low-income working families in Colorado improves slightly, but many working families still face enormous barriers to opportunity
Charts | Glossary & footnotes
Press release - Bell updates report on working poor families: Colorado bottoms out in national ranking on gap between income and housing costs