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social justice - equal and fair treatment of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, or any other arbitrary barrier to equal opportunity.

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Equal opportunity for all

The National Urban League is the nation's "oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream." In July 2007, NUL issued The Opportunity Compact, a set of principles and recommendations to empower all Americans to be "full participants in the economic and social mainstream" based around "four cornerstones that reflect the values represented by the American dream:

1. The Opportunity to Thrive (Children)
2. The Opportunity to Earn (Jobs)
3. The Opportunity to Own (Housing)
4. The Opportunity to Prosper (Entrepreneurship)."
   

Equal access to the civil legal system

The U.S. Congress created the Legal Services Corporation in 1974 "to promote equal access to justice in our Nation and to provide high quality civil legal assistance to low-income persons." There are "138 legal aid programs with over 900 offices around the nation to help poor Americans gain equal access to the judicial system." Legal matters include family-related disputes such as domestic violence and child custody; housing issues, such as preventing foreclosures, and matters related to income, consumer rights, and health.

Equal access to a clean and healthy environment

"Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. EPA has this goal for all communities and persons across this Nation. It will be achieved when everyone enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/Environmental Justice

Restoring equal treatment for criminal defendants who have completed their sentences

The Sentencing Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law are working to restore voting rights to people with felony convictions who have completed their sentences; and to restore "welfare, education and housing benefits to thousands of women and children who have lost them as the result of convictions for minor drug offenses."

Economic freedom and child protection for low-income families and new immigrants

Nebraska Appleseed promotes "self-sufficiency for Nebraska’s working poor families, the integration and participation of immigrant populations in communities across Nebraska, safe and adequate child welfare services to children who need protection, and low-income people’s access to the legal system and...democratic processes."