That’s a quote from Ian Rowe’s book, Agency, and the reason we asked him to join us for Breakthrough last month.

If you’d like to get more involved there are some ways you can make a big impact. 

1. Take some time to learn how to have the healthiest relationships possible by signing up for classes offered by our team at GCO.

2.Talk to your children and other young people about the power of graduating high school, working hard, and marriage in helping them achieve their dreams. The Success Sequence IS the Pathway to Power.

3. Teach young people they are not victims and have control over the most important aspects of their lives. Ian Rowe’s four-point plan (F.R.E.E.) is a critical way to show young people that they have Agency.

Key Points

There is a close link between the quality of your relationships and the quality of your work life. To further explore and explain this link, the Georgia Center for Opportunity team is honored to welcome Ian Rowe — senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute — to our upcoming family Breakthrough event focused on family and relational health.

The event is on Thursday, August 25, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia. Lunch is included.

The family Breakthrough event will focus on the importance of people of all ages knowing their ABCs — Attitude, Behavior, and Choices. Martin Seligman, the father of human flourishing, says that to flourish is to find fulfillment in our lives, to accomplish meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and to connect with others at a deeper level. In essence, to live “the good life.” But “the good life” is impossible if your relationships are broken and you’re living in poverty.

Ian Rowe will address the link for us. Mr. Rowe has emerged as a dynamic voice on education, upward economic mobility, family formation, the Success Sequence, and adoption. The Success Sequence is the basic idea that those who follow a three-step process — graduate from high school, wait until marriage for children, and get a full-time job — are virtually guaranteed to not be in poverty. They also have a strong likelihood of entering the middle class.

Mr. Rowe is also co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a new network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools opening in the Bronx in 2022; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the co-founder of the National Summer School Initiative.

“When it comes to fighting poverty and creating opportunity, Ian Rowe is one of the most effective and eloquent leaders in the United States,” shares Randy Hicks, GCO’s president and CEO. “His leadership isn’t just based in theory and his expansive knowledge, but in his hands-on experience in leading and serving schools that are transforming lives.”

Randy will guide the discussion with Mr. Rowe at the family Breakthrough event. Topics will include:

• What is the correlation between broken relationships and poverty?

• Can you have one without the other?

• If there were no broken relationships, would poverty exist?

Key Points

Speakers will include:

A key part of our mission at the Georgia Center for Opportunity is to turn broken relationships into flourishing families. Today, more than ever, there are shattered relationships across our culture — at home, at work, and at school. But even as the problems exist in our communities, we firmly believe that our communities also offer the solutions.

That’s why we are organizing a new Breakthrough event focused on community solutions to family and relational health. The event is on Thursday, August 25, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia. Lunch is included. 

A major part of the effort will focus on the need to reach young people with relationship skill building while they are still in school. It’s still early enough to teach these students the fundamental building blocks of healthy relationships, so they can have the right attitude and drive their behavior toward good choices. While many of them have already experienced broken relationships in the home, it’s not too early to make an impact.

Along these lines, we will be featuring speakers who have vast experience and a deep understanding of these issues. 

Michael Doyne and Dr. Natalie Looney

The first of these is Michael Doyne, principal of Lilburn Middle School. GCO has partnered with the school to present four sessions of our Strengthening Families Program. At least 100 families have gone through this program, which has been offered in Spanish. The school has seen a huge improvement in the relationships of their students and amongst the parents themselves.

Another panel will feature Dr. Natalie Looney, principal of Summerour Middle School in Norcross. GCO is preparing to offer our Strengthening Families Program class at Summerour beginning in September.

Questions for both Mr. Doyne and Dr. Looney will include:

• How have relationships at your schools changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How haven’t they changed? How are things still the same?
• What led you to partner with GCO?
• What approaches do you find at most successful at helping students and parents today?

Kristen Hypolite of Every Woman Works (EWW)

Another panel discussion will be with Kristen Hypolite, chief operations officer with the nonprofit Every Woman Works based in Roswell, Georgia. EWW’s mission is to equip women with the training and resources needed to attain self-sufficiency and achieve gainful employment. EWW helps women re-engineer their lives, understanding where they came from and the attitudes and beliefs they can change to improve their lives.

Questions covered will include:

• How has the strong partnership between EWW and GCO strengthened the EWW community?
• How has this partnership benefitted the women in your program?
• What are you seeing in the clients you serve to implement healthy relationships skills training in your program?
• Before the women enter your program, what Attitudes, Behaviors and Choices (ABCs) are you seeing?
• In what ways have you seen the ABC’s transformed the ladies differently after attending the relationship skills training?

Key Points

Our upcoming event focused on family and relational health features a line-up of speakers you’ll definitely want to come out to hear.

As a reminder, the family Breakthrough event sponsored by the Georgia Center for Opportunity is on Thursday, August 25, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia.

At the event, we will do a deep dive into the Attitudes, Behaviors, and Choices (ABCs) of individuals and families and how those relate to relational and, more broadly, community health. We want you there!

Here are our featured speakers:

Kristen Hypolite, COO of Every Woman Works

Kristen is an engineer by trade and utilizes her talents in helping the women of EWW help reengineer who they are.

Dr. Natalie Looney, Principal of Summerour Middle School

Natalie has served as head of Summerour Middle School since 2019 but has worked in public education for over 20 years. She has been married for 23 years and has two wonderful children.

Michael Doyne, Parent Instructional Coordinator at Lilburn Middle School

Michael has worked as the Parent Instructional Coordinator at Lilburn Middle School for 13 years. He speaks English and Spanish, and he enjoys travel and hanging out with his friends and family.

Ian Rowe, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

At AIE, Ian focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. Ian is also the co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a new network of character-based International Baccalaureate high schools opening in the Bronx in 2022; the chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption services organization; and the cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative. He concurrently serves as a senior visiting fellow at the Woodson Center and a writer for the 1776 Unites Campaign.