NEWS & OPINIONS
Exploring Healthy Relationships with Online Classes
Many years ago we began laying the groundwork for the Healthy Families Initiative (HFI), and two years ago we kicked off a public campaign to change the hearts and minds of those in the Norcross and Peachtree Corners areas. Your support, partnerships, and prayers have...
Advocating for innovation, Steve Jobs championed school choice
Earlier this month, Apple made waves by introducing the iPhone 10. Since being unveiled, the updated smartphone and several other new products have received praise as the latest credit to Steve Jobs’ tech legacy. Years following his death, Americans still remember the...
Georgia Center for Opportunity announced as finalist for Atlas Network’s prestigious Templeton Freedom Award
Amid growing acknowledgment for efforts to reduce prison recidivism rates in Georgia, the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) has been named as a finalist for the highly competitive Atlas Network Templeton Freedom Award. The honor recognizes GCO for recent efforts to...
Getting non-working men working again in Georgia
In the coming decades, could so-called “middle skills” jobs be a key factor in reversing the contemporary epidemic of non-working males in the U.S.? There is reason to hope the answer is a resounding yes. A phenomenon thoroughly documented by the American Enterprise...
GCO’s Healthy Families Initiative announces #FatherhoodFriday: Celebrating the joy of being a dad
Being a dad is one of the greatest challenges in life, but it often gets overlooked. Though the everyday joys of being a father are overshadowed in pop culture by fast-paced news and Hollywood gossip, that doesn't mean celebrity dads aren't talking about how their...
Could charter schools improve the performance of surrounding schools?
Advocates for school choice have long argued that charters encourage higher performance among all public schools. But is it possible that local students could benefit from the presence of a charter school even if they never go to school there? According to a...
Report: A declining birth rate could spell trouble for the economy
When the great recession hit in 2007, economists weren't surprised to find that young couples held off on starting families. However, ten years later, they've found that the birth rate hasn't yet bounced back. Now, some experts fear that fewer babies could equal...
Legislators Being Thanked for Supporting School Choice
As children across the state are returning for a new school year, Georgia’s legislators are being featured on digital ads because they voted in favor of school choice. The Georgia Center for Opportunity released a Legislative Report Card earlier in the summer which...
You can’t fix the past, you can improve the future
John F. Kennedy once stated “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” But according to a new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation called 2017 Kids Count Data Book, the future for Georgia’s children appears dismal.
Freakonomics: ‘Poverty and family structure are intertwined’
Freakonomics is the popular podcast that aims to expose the "hidden side of everything" by applying economics research to everyday realities. In a recent episode, they sought to understand why marriage is on the decline. Their conclusion was staggering: there is a...
GCO Goes to the Nation’s Capitol
On June 28th, GCO's Eric Cochling traveled to Washington, D.C. to be part of the Full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform meeting, which took an in-depth look into "programs and legislation aimed at rehabilitating offenders, facilitating a successful...
Three Keys to Millennial Success in Georgia
By: Randy Hicks and W. Bradford Wilcox Although young men and women are taking what seems like a dizzying array of paths into adulthood these days, one path stands out as maximizing their shot at the American Dream: what scholars Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill have...
MEDIA MENTIONS
Study: Education savings account program in Georgia could result in nearly $16B in long-term benefits | CROSSVILLE CHRONICLE
Giving parents the ability to choose what school their children attend could save Georgia taxpayers money and generate billions of dollars in economic benefits, according to a new study. Released this week by conservative think tank the Georgia Public Policy...
Study: Education savings account program in Georgia could result in nearly $16B in long-term benefits | THE CENTER SQUARE
Giving parents the ability to choose what school their children attend could save Georgia taxpayers money and generate billions of dollars in economic benefits, according to a new study. Released this week by conservative think tank the Georgia Public Policy...
Welcoming Dr. Cayanna Good to the Georgia Center for Opportunity board of directors
Welcoming Dr. Cayanna Good to the Georgia Center for Opportunity board of directors The Georgia Center for Opportunity team is thrilled to announce that Dr. Cayanna Good, assistant commissioner of adult education for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), has...
Infrastructure investment essential to economic mobility | THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE
Georgians believe strong political leadership on transportation issues is a critical component of our economic success. According to polling from the Georgia Transportation Alliance, 93% of Georgians use automobiles as their primary source of transportation, 43%...
A true second chance | THE LAGRANGE DAILY NEWS
In July 2020, I wrote a column about Senate Bill 288 (SB 288). At the time, the governor ended up signing the bill that can help many Georgians remove the stigma of having a criminal conviction... More than 4 million Georgia residents had a criminal record in 2016,...
Agency puts families first in new effort to build resilience | AJC
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic would come to bear down upon us, DePriest Waddy was sitting in his office at Families First when a mother and father stopped in with their two young sons in tow. There’s no polite way to put this, but they were a mess... They won’t do...
New legislation would expand school-choice opportunities for Georgia parents | THE CENTER SQUARE
A Georgia lawmaker has proposed legislation that would provide more education choices for parents by allowing public education funds to be used for private school tuition. The Georgia Educational Scholarship Act, introduced by Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, would...
Private school vouchers back on the state legislative agenda | AJC
Pandemic precautions have set the stage for an unusual legislative session, but one thing hasn’t changed: the years-long feud over public funding of private education in Georgia. For several years, some lawmakers have pushed to spend more state money on private...
