The Crusade for Opportunity was an anti-poverty agency in Syracuse, NY that was founded in 1964. Its goal was to reduce the rates of poverty, especially among poor minority communities.

In the early 1960s, Syracuse, like the majority of other cities in America, had a struggling African American community. Still recovering from centuries of slavery and then racial prejudice and discrimination, black citizens suffered from housing, education, and employment disparities.

In terms of housing, urban renewal programs and the placement of the I-81 highway in the heart of the city displaced 80 percent of Syracuse's black citizens. These two initiatives demolished the 15th ward, once a proud black community. After displacement, public housing decisions segregated blacks from whites. Black families who could afford to move out of public housing often faced racist landlords and home sellers who refused to sell or rent to black home-seekers. This not only created segregated neighborhoods, but also segregated schools. De facto segregation, where segregation is not established by law but how communities are formed and subtly enforced, was often difficult to combat. Attempts to bus black students to white, more affluent schools faced protests from both blacks and whites: black parents felt it was unfair that their children had to be bused to a new school district far from their homes; white parents were concerned about their children being forced to learn with black children. Schools with a high percentage of black students were underfunded, and black students had limited access to the same supplies (books, for example) that white students enjoyed. Consequently, high school dropout rates amongst the black communities were disproportionally high compared to white communities. The lack of education had far reaching effects: unemployment for African Americans, particularly youth, was enormously high. Yet, even educational success did not always guarantee a good job: qualified black job applicants frequently faced discrimination when they applied for professional positions.

On the federal level, the Johnson Administration began its War on Poverty as a solution to this national crisis. This so-called "war" found its ammunition with The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which funded Community Action Programs (CAP) that helped poor communities rise out of poverty. These CAPs received federal funds from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) but were operated by local government officials and the poor black communities they represented. Calling for "maximum feasible participation of the poor," at least 1/3 of a CAP's operating board were supposed to be the black citizens that the programs were representing.

One of the first to receive federal money was the Community Action Training Center (CATC) in Syracuse, NY. The CATC was founded and operated by faculty and students from University College of Syracuse University. Under the direction of Dr. Warren Haggstrom, SU students from the CATC, sometimes labeled as "soldiers" in the War on Poverty, worked directly with the local black community. The CATC, however, clashed with city government, and when the mayor placed pressure on the OEO and the University, CATC lost their funding after only a year.

When the CATC lost its funding, the Crusade for Opportunity (CFO) became Syracuse's premier anti-poverty agency operating under the model of maximum participation of the poor. Crusade for Opportunity was originally founded as the Mayor's Commission for Youth (CFY). The CFY was formed in 1962 under President Kennedy's President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency. The CFY was one of a handful of city organizations chosen for this pilot program, and was created to study the underlying reasons for juvenile delinquency. Project planning operations were delegated to the United Community Chest and Council of Onondaga County, and research operations were performed by Syracuse University-based Youth Development. The research culminated with a report and proposal, "Syracuse Action for Youth," which was one of six proposals that were approved by the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency. Syracuse's proposal emphasized that the main cause of juvenile delinquency was the lack of economic opportunity. The report also suggested that in order for the poor to become agents of change they needed to have direct involvement in decision making. In June of 1964, Robert Kennedy visited Syracuse to announce that the Mayor's Commission for Youth had been awarded a grant to place the proposal in action, resulting in national attention to Syracuse and the CFO. Shortly after the publication of the report and proposal, it was rolled out on national scale and formed the basis for the Community Action Programs instituted in cities and rural areas across the nation. The organization changed their name to Crusade for Opportunity in the summer of 1964.

Following the guidelines developed from their research, the CFO had a three-pronged approach to creating opportunity: better education, employment training, and community service. Education programs assisted poor students at all grade levels, from Head Start for preschoolers to learning assistance for struggling high school students. Employment programs ranged from youth job programs to on-the-job skill training. Finally, CFO created neighborhood centers around the city of Syracuse that offered a range of services to neighborhood teens and adults.

Adhering to the "maximum feasible participation of the poor" mandate, the CFO established neighborhood boards that were manned and elected by the communities they served. The CFO's Board of Directors was drawn from these neighborhood board members. The more involvement CFO elicited from the poor, mostly black, community, however, the more the local power structure felt like they were losing control of decision making. The traditional power structure, where city officials design and pass policies and legislation, was being thwarted by these community board members. One scholar wrote that the CFO "began as a mainly all white establishment representing city hall and ended as a mainly black organization representing neighborhood residents." This shift of power raised racial tensions, as well as concerns that the organization was mismanaging funds, and the OEO cut CFO's funding at the end of 1967 causing the organization to cease operations.