NEWS & OPINIONS
The Value of Family
Importance of Family At GCO, the impact area of Family, we always need volunteers. Since we devote much of our time and efforts to family, we enjoy hearing what about family inspires people to volunteer. Eda Beacham is a current volunteer for GCO and we wanted to...
Improve Your Life with a Growth Mindset
Learning keeps you growing Most people agree that learning is important. I’m just not sure we understand how important it really is. I can still remember as a child believing that I needed to know everything or people wouldn’t think I was smart and capable. I hear...
A renewed reason to celebrate this Fourth of July
This year we celebrated our country and one of its biggest values...family. For many the Fourth of July is more than just a celebration of our country’s birth—it is an opportunity to gather with family. An opportunity to connect and celebrate together. It feels like...
GCO Testifies Before U.S. House On Benefits Cliffs
Examining the SNAP Benefit Cliff On July 12, 2021, Eric Randolph, GCO’s Director of Research, testified before the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations about how welfare programs often hurt the very people they are...
Promote Purchasing Power—Not the Minimum Wage
How to help working families the most During a focus group session on working class families we recently conducted at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, Jazmine* made an observation more perceptive than most experts. Our focus group consisted of working-class...
Gov’t. check can’t beat work’s dignity | AJC
Jobs provide dignity and purpose to people’s lives and contribute to community flourishing in ways that can’t be measured by monthly employment reports.
Help From Where You Least Expect It
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find a better job; I might have to go back [to prison].” Two months out of prison, Ray (name changed for anonymity) was explaining to me that he had reached the end of his rope. He had been struggling to find work that...
Origins of the Georgia Center for Opportunity: Why we choose to focus on work
You’ve probably heard that if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day—but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. And while the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) mission to alleviate poverty by removing barriers to human flourishing is grounded in...
BETTER WORK adds direct-to-business job applications
Working to more quickly connect our communities to work. In efforts to better address the needs of the unemployed in our communities, we have taken an evolving learning approach to how we support those in need. Not only are we looking to learn from those in need, but...
Connecting the Presence of an Honored Father
Kenneth Braswell of Father’s Incorporated was recently honored on OWN’s Spotlight Celebrating Black Fatherhood. It brought back a positive memory of the dad event (The Dad Factor: Presence) hosted by the Georgia Center for Opportunity, where fathers and father’s to be...
Putting Georgia’s employment numbers in perspective
Is there any reason not to cheer? Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in May. Here are three reasons why this looks good for Georgia. First, the unemployment rate is declining, giving optimism that the economy is bouncing back from the pandemic....
Still celebrating my father!
A celebration of fathers. Since Father’s Day is upon us, I am sure many of you are thinking about the presence or lack thereof your father in your life. Hopefully some of you are thinking about the father that you are or want to become. No matter where you land, take...
MEDIA MENTIONS
Georgia Senate committee advances education savings accounts bill
The Senate Education Committee voted to advance legislation creating state-funded education savings accounts. The committee voted 6-5 Tuesday afternoon in favor of Senate Bill 233, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act. “Too many times, education access in Georgia is...
Georgia Senate again pushes $6,000 school voucher bill
Georgia Senate Republicans are again pushing a plan to give $6,000 educational vouchers to many students, part of a nationwide push for what supporters call education savings accounts following the COVID-19 pandemic. The movement is fueled in part by fights over...
Georgia Senate again pushes $6,000 school voucher bill
Georgia Senate Republicans are again pushing a plan to give $6,000 educational vouchers to many students, part of a nationwide push for what supporters call education savings accounts following the COVID-19 pandemic. The movement is fueled in part by fights over...
A new bill in KY legislature simplifies expungement process
A new bill has been introduced in the Kentucky Legislature, House Bill 589, that simplifies the process of having criminal records expunged for people who have been convicted of a misdemeanor or class C felony that does not involve violence, sex, a child victim, or...
GCO applauds introduction of Promise Scholarship bill
The Georgia Center For Opportunity is thrilled to support new legislation introduced in the Georgia General Assembly creating Promise Scholarship Accounts. Georgia State Senator Greg Dolezal is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 233, The Georgia Promise Scholarship...
Georgia lawmaker proposes state-funded education savings accounts
Proposed legislation would allow Georgians to create state-funded education savings accounts. Under Senate Bill 233, taxpayers would fund $6,000 per student per school year. Students could use that money to defray "qualified" education costs, including private school...
Inflation continues to worry Georgians, groups say
Inflation will likely stick around for the foreseeable future, and the elevated inflation continues to worry Georgia businesses, groups said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased by 6.4% over the...
KY House bill related to juvenile justice reform advances from committee
Kentucky’s juvenile justice system is likely to undergo some major changes before the end of the 2023 legislative session. House Bill 3 is one of several juvenile justice reform-related bills that will be considered this year, according to the bill’s sponsor Rep....
