Local schools and nonprofit, Every Woman Works, lend their voice at Breakthrough

Local schools and nonprofit, Every Woman Works, lend their voice at Breakthrough

Teacher by chalk board

Local schools and nonprofit, Every Woman Works, lend their voice at Breakthrough

Key Points

Speakers will include:

  • Michael Doyne, principal of Lilburn Middle School
  • Dr. Natalie Looney, principal of Summerour Middle School in Norcross
  • Kristen Hypolite, chief operations officer with the nonprofit Every Woman Works based in Roswell, Georgia

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?
Don’t miss this line-up of speakers at our family Breakthrough event

Don’t miss this line-up of speakers at our family Breakthrough event

Don’t miss this line-up of speakers at our family Breakthrough event

Key Points

  • Event is Thursday, August 25 from 10:30am to 12:30pm
  • Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia
  • Dive into the Attitudes, Behaviors, and Choices (ABCs) of individuals and families

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.



 

Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

family breakthrough

Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

Transforming broken relationships into flourishing families

Key Points

  • Many people are experiencing broken relationships at home, work, and school.

  • Helping people have healthy relationships will result in nothing less than full community transformation.

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

Family makes us stronger

The world is filled with negative headlines right now. These headlines reflect the real pain we’re all experiencing in our communities. Today, more than ever, we are experiencing broken relationships at home, work, and school.

In dating relationships, Pew Research tells us that nearly half of U.S. adults say dating has gotten harder for most people in the last 10 years. As for relationships at work, Gallup finds that 60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to increased rates of divorce.

We know that a key way to restore community health is by fostering healthy relationships. These relationships are the bedrock of our culture. When they suffer, we all suffer. Helping people have healthy relationships will result in nothing less than full community transformation.

That’s the theme of an upcoming Breakthrough event focused on family and relational health sponsored by the Georgia Center for Opportunity. The event 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. You don’t want to miss it!

 

Speakers at the event include:

  • Kristen Hypolite, COO of Every Woman Works
  • Dr. Natalie Looney, Principal of Summerour Middle School
  • Michael Doyne, Parent Instructional Coordinator at Lilburn Middle School

  • Ian Rowe, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

Family makes us stronger

Each of us has within us the option of having the right attitude will drive our behavior which allows us to make better choices. When you leave the session, you’ll have a deeper understanding of what family formation means and the reason it is important.

We are inviting everyone to attend, whether you represent a school, a church, a government agency, institution of local government, or nonprofit, we want you at this event.

 

Fixing things at the local level without government

Fixing things at the local level without government

In The News

Fixing things at the local level without government

Inflation, recession , and stagflation are on the minds of most people.

 

A recent Wall Street Journal-NORC poll showed that most people think the economy is in trouble. More than 4 in 5 people, 83% of respondents, said the nation’s economy is “poor or not so good.” What’s more, a New York Times poll released this week found that more than 75% of registered voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.

 

At the same time, distrust of institutions is reaching an all-time high. Polling from State Policy Network and Morning Consult shows that trust in the federal government is down to 15%, with state governments faring only slightly better at 22%. News organizations, the educational system, and labor unions are at or below 20%. And President Joe Biden’s approval rating is at a net minus 12%.

Fixing things at the local level without government

Local Nonprofit Breaking Down Barriers to Poverty | Peachtree Corners Magazine

In The News

Local Nonprofit Breaking Down Barriers to Poverty | Peachtree Corners Magazine

With gas prices soaring and supply chain issues driving up consumer prices, it’s not hard to imagine more individuals are struggling to make ends meet. Complicate those issues with a lack of education, medical issues, trouble within the home or other barriers to success and you find some families hanging by a thread. Some find themselves homeless.

The Peachtree Corners-based Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) is working to break down those barriers to ensure everyone has access to a quality education, fulfilling work and a healthy family life.

 
WATCH: These powerful stories show why we need to share the Success Sequence each and every day

WATCH: These powerful stories show why we need to share the Success Sequence each and every day

man on top of mountain

WATCH: These powerful stories show why we need to share the Success Sequence each and every day

Key Points

  • All young people — not just those who come from rich families — deserve to know this “secret to success”: get an education, work hard, get married, and then have children.
  •  No matter the challenges young people face, there is a path to build a bright future — through the Success Sequence.
  • Institute for Family Studies has shared 3 powerful videos that show the face and opportunity brought by the Success Sequence.

The Success Sequence and its impact

“The choice of having children too early is one you’ll have to play catch up with for the rest of your life.” 

“I wish that I had made some different decisions when I was young. Think before you act. Definitely be intentional about the decisions you’re making at that age, because they do have a lasting effect on your life.”

 “Having to get food donated to us was the bottom of my life.”

Those are just a few of the powerful quotes contained in the narrative stories — called Straight Talk About the Success Sequence — in a series of new videos on the Success Sequence from the Institute for Family Studies.

The basic premise of this campaign is simple: All young people — not just those who come from rich families — deserve to know this “secret to success”: get an education, work hard, get married, and then have children.

As you know, the Success Sequence is a powerful and proven way for even the most disadvantaged men and women to avoid poverty and to have a shot at the stable, happy family life they really want.

 

The Success Sequence:
His Story

Part One: Men

The numbers prove it all

Statistics show that 97% of young people who follow these steps are not poor later in life, and fully 85% of them enter the middle class.

Can it really be that simple? That’s what’s so great about the Success Sequence: The answer is simple, but the key is to get the information to young people at the right time.

No matter the challenges young people face, there is a path to build a bright future — through the Success Sequence.

It’s organizations like the Georgia Center for Opportunity that are bringing the truth of the Success Sequence to young people every day. Whether it’s GCO’s work to expand educational options for all students, bring career opportunities to the impoverished, or bringing relationship enrichment classes to local communities, we are on the front lines. The Institute for Family Studies recognizes this.

The Success Sequence:
Her Story

Part Two: Women

“The Success Sequence is only effective as a concept if it’s shared in practical ways with young people,” said Brad Wilcox, senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. “On-the-ground organizations like the Georgia Center for Opportunity play a key role in this. Our young people deserve to know about their potential to take hold of the American Dream.”

Please share these important videos on social media, with your friends and family, and with young people in your life who need to hear this important message. We need to spread the word on the Success Sequence so that other young people don’t face the same struggles in life faced by Scott, Stephanie, and Caylie and Carlos.

The Success Sequence:
Their Story

Part Three: Cohabitation

preload imagepreload image