Q&A: Andre and Takara explain how GCO’s Elevate class changed their relationship

by David Bass | Sep 12, 2022

Elevate Your Relationship with (1300 × 600 px)

Q&A: Andre and Takara explain how GCO’s Elevate class changed their relationship

Key Points

Andre and Takara Knighton have been married for 15 years.
The couple was facing some challenges in their relationship, and Elevate turned out to be just what they needed!
Learn more about Elevate at https://foropportunity.org/elevate/

Andre and Takara Knighton stumbled across the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s Elevate relationship enrichment class purely by accident. But it was a wonderful accident! The couple was facing some challenges in their relationship, and Elevate turned out to be just what they needed. Check out this Q&A for more.

Q: Please introduce yourselves – your family background, kids, jobs, school, work, where you live, etc.

We are Andre and Takara Knighton. We have been married for 15 years and produced two beautiful and funny children. We currently live in Georgia but have lived in other states before deciding to reside here. We both have done social work in different fields, but after the pandemic we decided to focus more on our multimedia company, Vizion Image Media.

Q: How did you first learn about Elevate?

Takara learned about the program randomly at a county office. She was registering the car tags and while she was waiting saw a flier for Elevate. So she went home and started researching more about it.

Q: What prompted you to want to attend Elevate?

We were in a tight spot in our relationship. We had been allowing little things to bother us and had been a little distant from one another. We kind of lost ourselves in just life and slowly began to lose our friendship. So when Takara saw this flier and did her research on the program, we decided to just go for it. We went with expectations to try something new and honestly have set dates for ourselves that would also be a building block for our relationship.

To learn more about Elevate and how you can participate, visit:

foropportunity.org/elevate

Q: What was your experience like in the class? What did you learn?

The class was eye opening. We saw couples who had been married for 20 years to newly married couples that also had the same stories. It was encouraging to know that there are couples—especially couples married longer than us—that just needed a little extra help to learn to reconnect. We learned how to look at each other again, but in a new light. The major thing we learned is how to stop and refocus our negative thoughts back to the positive. Sometimes when you have been with someone for so long you tend to focus on all the negative attributes of the person instead of the good qualities that brought you two together. Also, you forget to tell your spouse how much they mean to you and remind them of why you feel in love. Now we are telling each other almost two to three times a week what we appreciate about one another.

Q: Of the seven core relationship skills and qualities for success, which one did you find most impactful for your own relationship?

Definitely “Enlighten.” We weren’t dealing with each other in a healthy manner because we only focused on the past. We forgot that people can change and likes and dislikes can change. We still looked at each other as the 20-somethings we used to be. So we had to become enlightened about who our spouse was again. We had to discover our passions and loves separately and apart. We had to be more sensitive to each other’s feelings and listen. We had to rediscover “us.”

Q: What are some reasons you can think of for other couples to attend Elevate?

We believe that everyone should experience this class because it does open your eyes to some questions that you may never have thought to talk about before. You can be married for two years or 25 years and still never think to ask your partner some of these questions. This class allows you to explore a new part of you, and the you in your relationship. People change over time and so does your relationship. So instead of ditching it because you changed, learn how to deal with the new you in your relationship and discover how you both can make the changes work.

Q: What are your future goals and plans?

We plan on dating each other more and trying new things together. We definitely want to travel overseas again and take our kids on their first overseas adventure so they can learn about life and other cultures.

Report ranks Georgia 14th nationally for educational freedom

by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Sep 12, 2022

Report ranks Georgia 14th nationally for educational freedom

Georgia ranked 14th in the nation for its educational freedom, according to a new indexfrom the Heritage Foundation.

The Peach State ranked in the middle of its neighboring states. Georgia performed better than Alabama (No. 16), North Carolina (15) and South Carolina (23) but trailed Florida (1) and Tennessee (10).

“The Heritage Foundation Education Freedom report card shows that some progress has been made in empowering parental choice in Georgia. But there is much more that can be done,” Buzz Brockway, the vice president of public policy for the Georgia Center for Opportunity, said in a statement.

“Neighboring states like Florida and Tennessee offer their parents more options, and are higher ranked in education achievement,” Brockway added. “We owe it to our children to give their parents more options with programs like an Education Scholarship Account and continuing to increase Georgia’s Tax Credit Scholarship program.

Read the full article here

Five reasons to celebrate the value of work on Labor Day

by David Bass | Sep 5, 2022

Black Grey Labor Day Instagram Post (3000 × 1000 px)

Five reasons to celebrate the value of work on Labor Day

Key Points

A disproportionately large number of able-bodied adults have checked out of the workforce.
This Labor Day, we’d like to acknowledge five reasons why work remains so important.

Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 under President Grover Cleveland. The core meaning of the holiday is to celebrate the achievements and value of everyday workers. But here at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, we see another important part of Labor Day celebrations — to acknowledge the value of work itself.

The United States has a rich history of viewing work as ennobling. That’s part of what has helped each succeeding generation of Americans have a brighter economic future than the one before. But in recent history, we’ve witnessed an anti-work spirit arise in our nation.

A disproportionately large number of able-bodied adults have checked out of the workforce. Even though the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at historic lows, the labor force participation rate has not caught up — indicating that millions of workers are absent from the workforce who could otherwise be working.

This Labor Day, we’d like to acknowledge five reasons why work remains so important.

Work provides a key source of dignity

Work is about bettering one’s self and one’s family materially, that’s true. But that is not the only benefit. Another benefit is the way the work itself benefits the individual, the intangible but no less important side benefits of work.

When we are separated from work, we lose more than just monetary compensation or the food, shelter, clothing, and other basics that money can buy. We also face a loss of social connection, meaningful activity, self-respect, and overall purpose.

Work helps to establish our daily rhythms

Work establishes the daily rhythms of life. It dictates when we rise from bed, when we eat our meals, how we schedule our weeks, how we interact with our families. Work provides important structure for our lives.

Work benefits all of society

Workers make contributions that extend beyond their own families to society as a whole. They generate value and rely on themselves rather than government assistance. Employed people are also less likely to commit crime and their families tend to be healthier.

Bringing The Dignity of Work to every individual.

We believe that every able-bodied individual should have a path to fulfilling work. We do this through initiatives that create a flourishing job market, remove barriers to those unable to find work, and work directly with communities to move the un and underemployed into work.

Work provides an opportunity to be generous to others

Work gives us the monetary resources to be generous to those in need. Maybe that’s why the U.S. is one of the most generous nations in the world for private philanthropy — historically, we’ve valued hard work and the generosity made possible by it.

Work honors God

Our religious traditions teach that work has intrinsic value. In the Hebrew account of creation, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and instructed him “to work it and keep it.” In the New Testament, Paul stated that “if a man will not work, he will not eat.” The Calvinist work ethic brought to our shores by the Puritans equated diligent work with duty to God.