Angela Blackwell drew national attention as founder of Oakland's Urban Strategies Council and then as a partner at the pubilc interest law firm, Public Advocates. She went on to become Senior Vice president at the Rockfeller Foundation. She founded PolicyLink in 1999, with the mission of advancing economic and social equity. She is a leading voice for using pubilc policy to improve access and opportunity for low-income people and communities of color. She delivered this speech at the October 2010 meeting of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership in Oakland.