Mission, Vision, and Values

Our shared values connect us.

EOI is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit 501(c)3 research and advocacy organization.

Our vision is for Washington state to be a national model of economic opportunity — with an economy that truly works for everyone.

Our mission is to equip the public and public decision-makers with the policy research and practical tools they need to embed the values of fairness, care, and opportunity into the foundations of our state’s economy — and thereby support thriving people and communities across the state.

The policies we advance are designed to align with our core values:

Fairness: Washington’s economy works better for the rich and powerful than it does for everyone else. We advance policies that level the playing field so that we all thrive.
Care: Life is unpredictable. We advance policies that give Washingtonians what they need to care for themselves and those they love through all the uncertainties of life.
Opportunity: Not everyone starts from the same place. We advance policies that embed security into the foundations of Washington’s economy, so that every Washingtonian can pursue individual opportunity in their own way within a framework of systemic security.

A commitment to racial equity — the recognition that we cannot be successful in building an economy that works for everyone without addressing structural racism — runs through all our work.

Our actions invite change.

We believe that if we

understand the issues by identifying the biggest problems that Washingtonians face in realizing systemic opportunity and holding ourselves accountable to those closest to those issues;
set the agenda by proposing specific policy solutions to those problems through a policy vision centered around the core values of fairness, care, and opportunity;
build the will by creating an understanding of and support for our policy vision among the public and public decision-makers by equipping them with policy research and practical tools;
deliver results by working in coalition with others to translate understanding and support into concrete policy wins by mobilizing alongside the groups we hold ourselves accountable to;

Then, we will create a Washington state that is a national model of economic opportunity, one with an economy that truly works for everyone.

Where we stand and what we’ll do

Like many Washingtonians, we at the Economic Opportunity Institute have watched the actions of the new federal administration with growing alarm, horror, and grief. We have been in the fight for economic justice since 1998, and the values we fight for – fairness, care, and opportunity – have never been more under threat.

Our work in this Washington is rooted in our understanding that the public policies that shape our state’s economy have long worked better for the rich and powerful than they do for everyone else. As the richest among us have hoarded wealth and power on an unimaginable scale over the last 27 years, we have fought for policies that build security and opportunity for all of us – because those values form the foundation of an economy that truly works for everyone.

January 2025 brought into power a collection of people, including the richest man on the planet and many members of this country’s growing oligarchy, who are moving swiftly to unilaterally and undemocratically disinvest in programs fought for and won by working people over decades of advocacy and agitation. These actions have destabilized our entire economy, threatening in a matter of days tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of lives. Our government is being stripped for parts to line the pockets of — and consolidate control by — the ultra-wealthy.

These actions strike at the heart of our constitutional democracy. We know they are only the beginning. The nature of authoritarianism now ascendant in the other Washington is that there must always be an enemy within. If you are not an enemy now, you will inevitably become one. When the nation’s purse strings, regulations, and public servants are ruled by the decree of an unelected billionaire and his unelected posse, every one of us is in danger.

It is beyond the power of any single organization, including ours, to interrupt the national cycle of degeneracy and retribution that is now underway. But it is everyone’s responsibility to clearly name what is happening and stand up for our values wherever we have even a small sphere of influence.

Here in Washington, we can make a difference — and we are staying in the fight to make this state a national model of economic opportunity. In this dangerous and uncertain moment, we call upon our elected leaders, our neighbors, and ourselves to demonstrate what kind of world it is possible to build when we truly live in solidarity with one another.

We welcome your thoughts. We welcome your collaboration. We welcome your support.