Building Resilient Communities so All Children can Thrive
More now than ever, major corporations are making an impact beyond providing great products and customer service. They are also giving back and creating more opportunities for the communities they serve. Over and above just turning on the lights, Georgia Power is helping empower families to move from surviving to thriving. Recently, Georgia Power donated $100,000 to Families First to support initiatives focused on education equity, criminal justice and economic empowerment, which are all areas of community assistance provided by the 132 year old family service organization…
To achieve equity in education, Families First invests in safe and supportive networks that stimulate learning, provide access to community programs, and prepare youth for high-paying jobs. Taking a two-generation approach through its Navigator Care Model, there is a focus on creating stability for children with an emphasis on reading at grade level and graduating from high school. The Parents as Teachers program offers in-home parenting education, advocacy, and skill building support to both pregnant and parenting teens, as well as families from households where English is not the primary language. These educational efforts are furthered through a myriad of partnerships in metro Atlanta such as Raising Expectations in Atlanta; the Georgia Center for Opportunity and Impact46 in Gwinnett County.
Consumer Price Index Increased 7.9% Over the Last 12 Months
The CPI is up 7.9% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted.
On March 10th, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that in February the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The CPI is up 7.9% over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted.
The Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take: “The United States is now in a precarious position where our rampant inflation rate is going to begin to infringe on the economic recovery,” said Erik Randolph, GCO’s director of research. “Stagflation could very well be just around the corner. As gas prices surge and there is no let-up in other categories, Americans will begin having to make cutbacks. The impact on the economy will be significant.”
“We’re seeing firsthand the problem with accepting high levels of inflation as normal. When an unexpected event comes along, like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, it upends everything. The February inflation rate does not fully cover the most recent fallout from the invasion. We’re anticipating that the March CPI will be far worse, as the economic aftershocks of Russia’s war against Ukraine will be more fully baked in.”
Education advocate: Rural Georgia families need Promise Scholarships
Rural families in Georgia, like mine, don’t always have access to educational options. Promise Scholarships would fix this inequity.
My family moved to Burke County six years ago. My husband and I have two children, both withIndividualized Education Plansfor special needs. My daughter has dyslexia and dysgraphia, while my son has mild autism, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia and severe dysgraphia.
For the past five years, I’ve been fighting for my children every single day in the local public school system. Unfortunately, children in Burke County with special needs don’t always have access to the help they desperately need.
I began my fight by advocating on behalf of my daughter. Although she had an IEP, she continued to fall behind in reading and writing. I was able to convince the school district to purchase theBarton Reading Programfor my daughter. I wanted all students with reading challenges to have access to the program. When this program wasn’t implemented with fidelity, she was able to access tutoring that would support her needs. She remains in the public school but only because we have advocated every step of the way.
The story with my son has been more challenging. He would routinely come home from school with tears in his eyes, saying the school wasn’t treating him fairly. In digging more, I discovered they were not implementing his IEP as written but were putting pressure on my son to perform outside of the accommodations that were agreed upon. It caused a lot of meltdowns and angst.
The situation eventually became so severe that he began self-harm. That progression broke my heart because he is a good kid. He’s not aggressive. He’s not violent. But the pressures the school system put on him caused him to hurt himself.
For his own safety, we decided that he needed to be homeschooled. But what many people don’t realize is that home education is anything but cheap. My son has so many needs that we simply can’t pay for. He requires specialized therapies that our budget won’t allow for right now.
That’s wherePromise Scholarshipscome in. These accounts would provide up to $6,000 a year for families like mine to devote to a flexible menu of education options, such as occupational, speech or other therapies for special needs, tutoring assistance or homeschool co-ops that would help my son socialize and connect with other young people his age. Traditional vouchers that are available in Georgia right now wouldn’t work for our situation. Promise Scholarships would. I think many rural families are in the same boat.
It’s time for Georgia’s General Assembly to pass this legislation. Many other states have recently expanded school choice options to help families who have struggled during the pandemic with learning loss. We can’t afford to wait any longer.
There are so many other families like mine in Burke County. We basically have no school choice here, as the only private schools around do not have special educators or services and our closest charter school is 35 minutes away. Home education is our best option so that we can tailor an education to the unique needs of our children. Promise Scholarships would provide the type of resources to ensure that our children are not left behind.
Opponents of school choice in Georgia Senate exercise it in their own families | The Lion
Georgia lawmaker Jodi Lott has a quick and easy answer for why she supports school choice.
“Because it already exists,” the Republican state representative told The Lion. “School choice exists every single day for the wealthy. Sadly, most Democrats and some Republicans are fighting to stop the less fortunate from having those same options.”…
The Georgia Center for Opportunity, a nonprofit that promotes school choice, hailed a Senate committee’s approval of SB 601 on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, members of both political parties have a track record of practicing ‘choice for me but not for thee’ — sending their own kids to private schools while denying that same access to lower-income families,” Buzz Brockway, vice president of public policy at GCO, said in a statement to The Lion. “It’s sad but true. The bottom line is that underserved kids are suffering because they don’t have access to the same opportunities available to wealthier kids. Programs like Promise Scholarships would break down those barriers and create better equity in education.”
Georgia Senate committee advances school-choice bill | The Center Square
The Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee has advanced legislation that would allow Georgians to put taxpayer money toward the cost of private school tuition.
Senate Bill 601, the Georgia Educational Freedom Act, would create state-funded Promise Scholarships of up to $6,000 a year. Families of the roughly 1.7 million K-12 students in Georgia could use the money for private school tuition and other education expenses, such as tutoring and homeschool curriculum…
“Promise Scholarships step far beyond a typical voucher by fully putting parents in the driver’s seat when it comes to their child’s education,” Buzz Brockway, vice president of public policy for The Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO), said in a statement after the Senate committee approved the bill Tuesday.
“The funds could be used for private-school tuition, but there is added flexibility depending on each family’s unique needs, extending to paying for things like tutoring, specialized therapies, or homeschool co-ops,” Brockway said. “Passing Promise Scholarships would put Georgia at the forefront nationally of giving all children the opportunity for a great education.”
Could guaranteed basic income replace the welfare system? | Daily Citizen News
Georgia is the latest state to experiment with something called a “guaranteed basic income.” It will be interesting to see if these pilot projects can avoid the same pitfalls as the welfare system they’re intended to supplement — and might be better off simply replacing.
The premise of the guaranteed basic income is that there should be a minimum level of income for all Americans. Those who fall short with what they earn from their job would receive a monthly supplement funded by taxpayers…
My friends at the Georgia Center for Opportunity have done as much work on this particular topic as anyone I know. They call the traps built by our system “welfare cliffs,” because of the sudden, sharp drop people experience when they take a small financial step forward.
