The Thurgood Marshall Plan
THE THURGOOD MARSHALL PLAN
A New Marshall Plan for Black Opportunity
The Thurgood Marshall Plan is an independent policy proposal named in honor of Justice Thurgood Marshall and the principles of equal justice and opportunity associated with his life's work. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Thurgood Marshall College, the Marshall family or estate, or any other institution bearing Justice Marshall's name.
Open Every Door. Let Talent Rise.
America cannot change its history. But we can change what that history costs people today.
The Thurgood Marshall Plan is a proposed generational investment in opportunity, capacity, and economic mobility that is designed to remove measurable barriers that continue to prevent talented Americans from reaching their full potential and accessing everything that should be available to them.
This is not a plan to decide what Black Americans should become. It is a plan to make sure that talent, ambition, hard work, and determination have a fair opportunity to become whatever it wills. A doctor, scientist, engineer, teacher, entrepreneur, skilled professional, homeowner, business owner, researcher, or leader. Open every door. Let talent rise.
WHY A THURGOOD MARSHALL PLAN?
Thurgood Marshall understood that equality under the law is foundational, but that the promise of equality means little if people remain blocked from exercising the opportunities that equality is supposed to protect.
The original Marshall Plan represented another powerful American idea: when circumstances have damaged the foundations of opportunity, the nation can make a large-scale investment in rebuilding capacity, institutions, infrastructure, and economic strength. America did it for Europe to great effect and now it is time for it to make an even more consequential investment on its own soil and for its own people.
The Thurgood Marshall Plan brings those ideas together for a new generation.
This is not about DEI initiatives or even about leveling the playing field. Instead, it is about America living up to its original promise of equality by doing some retroactive work. The Thurgood Marshall Plan is here to remove barriers, build capacity, expand opportunity, and measure the results of those efforts.
This is a new Marshall Plan in spirit and scale named in the spirit of a man who stood for excellence, equality, and access to opportunity.
THE PRINCIPLE
Government should not pick the destination, but it should make sure the road is open. We should not lower the ceiling, but we should remove the obstacles between talent and the ceiling.
The objective is never to create permanent dependence on government as that has created more harm than good and has crushed more will than it has raised hope. This plan aims to create the conditions in which people, families, businesses, institutions, and communities can build lasting capacity and independence.
THE PLAN
1. GIVE EVERY CHILD ACCESS TO AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION
Opportunity begins long before college.
The Thurgood Marshall Plan would pursue a stronger educational pipeline from early childhood through adulthood.
That means expanding access to:
High-quality early childhood education
Affordable childcare
Literacy and mathematics
Advanced coursework
AP, IB, and dual-credit opportunities
Gifted and talented programs
Tutoring and academic intervention
Arts and humanities
Career and technical education
College counseling
Summer enrichment
Mentorship and career exposure
A child's zip code should not determine how high that child is allowed to aim.
2. OPEN EVERY DOOR TO HIGHER EDUCATION
The path to opportunity is not one-size-fits-all.
The plan would strengthen pathways into:
Four-year universities
HBCUs
Community and technical colleges
Medical, dental, veterinary, and pharmacy schools
Law and business schools
Engineering and technology programs
Graduate and doctoral education
Professional certifications
Research fellowships
Internships and apprenticeships
International educational opportunities
And it would make further, more strategic national investments in HBCU excellence.
That means modern research facilities, laboratories, technology, faculty development, graduate programs, broadband, equipment, and partnerships with industry, national laboratories, healthcare institutions, and universities.
HBCUs are not simply institutions to preserve. They are institutions to build up and to expand.
Current HBCU policy proposals are already moving in this direction. The bipartisan IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act introduced in 2026, for example, proposes investments in facilities, research infrastructure, broadband, equipment, and institutional capacity. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund has identified institutional capacity, student success, workforce pipelines, and research as major priorities.
The Thurgood Marshall Plan would build on that foundation with a broader national strategy.
3. BUILD EVERY PATH TO PROSPERITY
There should not be one definition of success. There should be many pathways upward.
The professional pathway
Expand access to:
Medicine
Law
Engineering
Science
Technology
Finance
Education
Research
Corporate leadership
Executive development
Graduate and doctoral education
The entrepreneurial pathway
Expand access to:
Startup capital
Growth capital
Venture investment
Accounting and legal support
Government contracting
Commercial real estate
Acquisition financing
Export opportunities
Patents and commercialization
Business succession planning
The skilled and technical pathway
Expand access to careers in:
Advanced manufacturing
Aerospace
Energy
Semiconductors
Construction
Robotics
Information technology
Transportation
Healthcare technology
Skilled trades
Every pathway should contain a pathway upward.
A person should be able to begin with an entry-level opportunity and see a credible route toward greater skill, greater responsibility, greater income, and ultimately ownership.
4. MAKE HOMEOWNERSHIP A GATEWAY TO WEALTH
Homeownership can be one of the most important pathways from income to long-term wealth.
The plan would explore stronger federal support for:
Down payments
Closing costs
Credit building
Responsible mortgage access
Financial education
Appraisal and inspection assistance
Home rehabilitation
Protection against predatory lending
Preservation of inherited property
First-generation homeownership
But ownership should not stop at the family home. The plan would also seek to expand opportunities for Black Americans to become:
Builders
Developers
Commercial property owners
Landlords
Investors
Real-estate entrepreneurs
The goal is not simply to help people buy an asset. The goal is to help families build real wealth.
5. HELP BLACK BUSINESSES SCALE
Starting a business is not the same as building a company. The Thurgood Marshall Plan would focus not only on entrepreneurship, but on growth. A business that scales creates jobs, wealth, tax revenue, suppliers, innovation, and opportunity for others.
That means improving access to:
Commercial lending
Growth capital
Venture capital
Government contracts
Accounting and legal services
Technology
Export markets
Commercial real estate
Executive and Business mentorship
Acquisition financing
Succession planning
6. TREAT CHILDCARE AS ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE
Childcare is not merely a private family expense and it is not a luxury. It is part of the infrastructure that allows parents to work, businesses to retain employees, and children to enter school ready to learn.
The plan would explore policies that increase:
Childcare availability
Affordability
Provider capacity
Early childhood quality
Workforce participation
Employer partnerships
Access for working families
If a parent cannot work because childcare does not exist or is unaffordable, that is an economic barrier and we should treat it accordingly.
7. OPEN THE PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS THAT OPPORTUNITY REQUIRES
Talent is not enough if opportunity is invisible.
The plan would strengthen connections among students and professionals and:
Hospitals
Law firms
Engineering firms
Universities
Research laboratories
Technology companies
Financial institutions
Energy companies
Aerospace companies
Major corporations
Government agencies
Entrepreneurs and investors
The objective is not to create race-based jobs. It is to make sure that access to opportunity is not pre-determined by family wealth, geography, or historical exclusion. Talent should be able to meet opportunity wherever it lies.
8. INVEST IN BLACK SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, AND INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP
America's future competitiveness depends on the people who discover what comes next. Black people have always been a part of the greatest discoveries in our nation and this new Marshall plan aims to both preserve that space at the forefront and create more of it. This is not only about access now, but about making sure that breakthroughs account for the differentiated needs of African-Americans, especially in scientific discovery and healthcare.
The Thurgood Marshall Plan would strengthen pathways into:
Biomedical research
Medicine
Engineering
Artificial intelligence
Biotechnology
Energy
Aerospace
Computer science
Materials science
Environmental research
The objective is not simply to produce more degrees. It is to produce more discoveries, cures, companies, patents, technologies, and American leadership.
9. REBUILD COMMUNITIES WHERE DISINVESTMENT HAS COMPOUNDED
Opportunity requires a place in which it can actually be inspired and take root. Too often, in American cities, the line of demarcation between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is painfully obvious to the eye, the disparity too great to ignore.
The plan would support strategies addressing:
Safe streets
Modern schools
Parks and recreation
Broadband
Transportation
Grocery and essential services
Housing rehabilitation
Business corridors
Environmental cleanup
Healthcare access
Libraries
Community spaces
10. MAKE BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH A NATIONAL PRIORITY
A mother-to-be should not face a greater risk of dying simply because of her race, where she lives, or the ingrained discrimination that has lead to the under treatment of black women in emergent situations.
The plan would expand research and accountability around:
Maternal mortality
Severe maternal morbidity
Prenatal care
Postpartum care
Rural healthcare access
Emergency response
Hospital outcomes
Preventable deaths
Maternal health disparities
And it would specifically examine the health experiences of women veterans who have been disproportionately at risk.
11. CONNECT MILITARY SERVICE TO THE OPPORTUNITY PIPELINE
For many young Americans, military service is one of the first major institutions they encounter after high school. The Thurgood Marshall Plan would strengthen the transition from military service into:
Higher education
Professional careers
Entrepreneurship
Homeownership
Healthcare
Research
Skilled trades
Leadership
Service should open doors. It should never become an invisible barrier to the next chapter of a person's life.
12. PUBLIC SAFETY AND EQUAL JUSTICE
Opportunity cannot flourish where people are afraid to walk down their own street and those streets also don’t feel safe when law enforcement is feared instead of relied upon. This divide must be addressed, not dismissed or inflamed.
The plan supports effective public safety alongside accountability.
That means:
Professional policing
Better training
Investigative technology
Violent-crime task forces
Independent investigation of serious misconduct
Transparent use-of-force reporting
Improved crime-clearance rates
Witness and victim protection
Violence-intervention strategies
Justice reform should make the system more accurate, more equitable, and more proportionate, not merely more lenient. This should also consider encouragement for pathways into law enforcement to increase representation and trust.
That includes examining:
Appropriate sentencing for nonviolent offenses
Diversion
Indigent defense
Prosecutorial misconduct
Police misconduct
Evidence and forensic standards
Reentry
Employment after incarceration
Expungement and record sealing
Correctional education
Recidivism reduction
Public safety and civil rights are not opposing goals. A just system must be capable of delivering both.
13. ENFORCE EQUAL RIGHTS WITHOUT CREATING A NEW SYSTEM OF RACIAL PREFERENCE
The Thurgood Marshall Plan is grounded in equal treatment under law. That means equal access, equal accountability, and equal opportunity. Maybe most importantly, this means vigorous enforcement when discrimination is proven because discrimination is costly.
Federal civil-rights protections should be enforced in areas including:
Employment
Housing
Lending
Education
Public accommodations
Contracting
Licensing
14. PROTECT BLACK AMERICANS FROM HATE CRIMES AND TARGETED VIOLENCE
America has a long history of racial violence and the current climate has seen an increase in racial tension elevated by an overabundance of hate-filled rhetoric. The federal government should ensure that hate crimes and racially motivated violence are:
Properly reported
Properly investigated
Properly prosecuted
Properly documented
Victims should receive support. Law enforcement should have the training and resources necessary to recognize and investigate credible evidence of bias-motivated violence. And when circumstances surrounding a death or violent act raise legitimate questions because of America's history of racial violence, the answer should be neither rumor nor automatic dismissal.
The answer should be truth. We should reject complacency without investigation.
THE TEXAS OPPORTUNITY DIVIDEND
Texas should not measure this plan simply by how much government spends. Instead, we should measure what Texas gains. The Thurgood Marshall Plan proposes a Texas Opportunity Dividend, a public scorecard measuring whether investments are producing measurable results.
HUMAN CAPITAL
High-school completion
College completion
Graduate and professional education
Physicians
Engineers
Scientists
Attorneys
Professors
Advanced-industry workers
Research grants
Patents
Startups
INCOME AND ECONOMIC MOBILITY
Employment
Labor-force participation
Median household income
High-wage occupations
Wage growth
Underemployment
Career advancement
OWNERSHIP AND WEALTH
Homeownership
Home equity
Net worth
Retirement savings
Business ownership
Business revenue
Business survival
Commercial property ownership
Access to growth capital
INNOVATION
Research investment
Patents
New companies
New jobs
Private investment
Commercialization
Advanced-industry growth
COMMUNITY STRENGTH
Violent crime
Vacant properties
Property values
Business occupancy
Childcare access
School performance
Neighborhood investment
Healthcare access
Population retention and growth
TEXAS'S RETURN
Taxable income
Property-tax base
Business activity
Sales-tax activity
Private capital leveraged
Jobs created
Economic output
ACCOUNTABILITY
The Thurgood Marshall Plan is not a blank check.
Every major initiative should have:
A measurable objective and a defined implementation plan. A responsible agency or institution should be assigned with an approved timeline. There must be public reporting and independent evaluation where appropriate. The plan must operate on a clear standard for expansion, modification, or termination. The goal is not to preserve a program, it is to remove the barrier.
HOW THE THURGOOD MARSHALL PLAN WOULD WORK
The Thurgood Marshall Plan is not a single government program. It is a framework of federal investments and policy reforms designed to systematically remove specific barriers to opportunity. Different barriers require different solutions.
Some investments would flow through existing federal programs. Others would require new legislation. Some would take the form of competitive grants, institutional investments, tax incentives, research funding, loan guarantees, public-private partnerships, or direct assistance to eligible families and businesses.
The federal government should not simply spend money. It should invest it through mechanisms designed to produce measurable outcomes.
Every major initiative should answer five questions:
Who is eligible?
Who administers it?
Where does the money come from?
How is success measured?
When does the intervention change, expand, or end?
We are not promising that every outcome will be equal. But, we should fight to make opportunity real. And when opportunity becomes real, people will do what Americans have always done when given a genuine chance: They will build, create, innovate, lead…and they will rise.
