by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Apr 10, 2015
We’re excited to announce that a few generous donors teamed with our board of directors to create a pool of $80,000 in matching funds. With this in effect, every donation given to GCO up to that amount or until June 30th will be instantly matched, dollar-for-dollar. That means your gift will have double the impact toward moving people from dependency to self-sufficiency.
At GCO, we believe that every person – irrespective of their economic or social class – is full of God-given potential and that cultural conditions and public policies that hinder an individual’s development are barriers to be removed. That’s why we work to remove barriers to opportunity.
We work to promote strong families, access to quality education, and steady employment – not for their own sake but for the sake of people. We want to create an environment where every individual has the opportunity to prosper.
In the end, when we’re successful, fewer Georgians will be living in a condition of dependence, a higher percentage will be enjoying earned success and the fruits of their labor, more children will be ready for college and a career, and more families will have the economic and relational resources to thrive.
I hope you will help us reach our $80,000 goal by the June 30th deadline. You can donate online now or mail a donation to Georgia Center for Opportunity, 333 Research Court, Suite 210, Norcross, GA 30092.
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Mar 10, 2015
While education plays a tremendous role in shaping individual life outcomes, the number of students in Georgia who do not advance beyond K-12 remains astronomically high. Over 1 in 5 young adults in Georgia are not attending school, not working, and have no degree beyond high school. Additionally, in 2014, more than 33,000 students did not graduate. Of those who go on to college, nearly 40 percent do not finish in four years.
To promote solutions that will give more Georgians a real chance to prosper, GCO convened a working group of education professionals as part of the College and Career Pathways Initiative. Comprised of K-12, postsecondary, and local business leaders, the group sought to contextualize barriers faced by students, parents, and schools of varying circumstances across the state.
Through a series of nine meetings, the group not only considered the academic needs of readiness, such as rigorous learning standards, and systemic barriers, such as recruiting and preparing quality teachers, the group also considered the philosophical underpinnings of readiness such as the relationship between education and fulfilling one’s purpose in life.
The following report serves as an overview of the themes and key issues covered by GCO’s College and Career Pathways working group. Major themes include the importance for Georgia to:
- Move away from big policy as a means of education reform
- Empower schools to take the reins of innovation and reform
- Help students develop healthy habits through strong relational ties
Through the lens of the themes described above, GCO plans to publish over the coming months a series of reports addressing key issues impacting college and career readiness in Georgia. These issues include:
- Measuring noncognitive variables in school and building small-scale relationships
- Improving accountability measures in Georgia’s schools
- Education reimagined through blended learning models
- Increasing experimentation and creativity in teacher preparation: Creating “the missing institution”
To read the full report, click here: Fortifying Pathways: Themes to Guide College and Career Readiness in Georgia
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Jan 8, 2015
With Congress returning to work this week and the Georgia General Assembly doing so on Monday, many voters are watching to see what issues are tackled (or not) in the coming months.
A new poll released this week suggests Georgia lawmakers ought to carefully consider advancing school choice.
Georgia voters rank K-12 education as the most likely issue to motivate them to vote in 2016: more than jobs, more than taxes, more than pre-K, more than any other single issue.
It makes sense. People believe students deserve an excellent, effective, education. If a child graduates from high school, he/she is much more likely to have success in life, family, career and society. If a child doesn’t graduate, or graduates without the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue college or a career, that child is much more likely to struggle. It doesn’t mean they are doomed. It just means they’ve got a tougher road ahead, one more likely to lead to detours involving public assistance, incarceration, family instability and so on.
The instinct of voters (and humans, generally) is that every child deserves a shot at a great education that prepares them for success in life. The problem, if we are willing to be honest, is that far too many of Georgia’s students are in schools that aren’t meeting their needs. Maybe it’s a chronically poor-performing school. Maybe it’s a generally good school that just isn’t the right fit for that child.
Perhaps this is why more than two in three Georgia voters favor school choice (66%/29%). What’s more interesting is that support for school choice generally, and certain programs specifically, transcends traditional partisan political and demographic boundaries.
For instance, sixty-three percent (63%) favor the creation of the Georgia Opportunity Scholarship Program, which would “allow parents to use the money the state has set aside for their child’s education to send them to the public, private or church-run school of their choice”—even when told this is sometimes referred to as a “voucher,” traditionally a highly polarizing term (support is higher without including the “v-word” disclaimer).
Dig a little deeper in the poll’s crosstabs and the story gets more interesting. Seventy-one (71%) of GOP primary voters favor creating this type of scholarship program. That may not be a surprise. But it turns out almost two-in-three Black voters – regardless of partisan affiliation – support the program, even more than White voters (64%/61%). Support among female voters – again, regardless of partisan affiliation – is stronger than that of men (67%/59%).
Eight-five percent (85%) of Georgia voters support Georgia’s current Special Needs Scholarship, currently the state’s only K-12 voucher program, including a whopping 92% of Black voters and 81% of GOP primary voters.
If I were an elected official (mercifully, for everyone, I have no desire to ever hold public office), an issue that garners 60% or more support from every key demographic: men/women, White/Black, younger/older, would be a dream. Passing a law giving more students access to an effective education also happens to be a political winner.
Mom and apple pie, meet school choice.
As the pollster concludes in his official memo: “BOTTOM LINE: Georgians are showing a strong propensity to favor increasing school choice programs. Even in a highly polarized political environment, these policies garner support across many key voter groups. As the new legislative session approaches, lawmakers should be mindful of voters’ desires to increase educational options for students and parents and make scholarship programs more inclusive.”
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Dec 16, 2014
Georgia Center for Opportunity’s recently released annual report shows the impact that is being made in the lives of Georgians, thanks to the generous support of GCO’s donors. 
Over the past year, GCO has successfully advocated for prisoner reentry reforms which were signed in to law, presented an alternative to Medicaid expansion that would increase access to quality healthcare, and worked directly through Breakthrough Norcross to prepare students for academic and professional success. As always, we’re focused on removing barriers to opportunity by promoting strong families, access to quality education, and steady employment.
Read the full report: Georgia Center for Opportunity’s 2014 Annual Report
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Dec 16, 2014
With your support, we have been working hard to make Georgia a state where ALL have a real chance to prosper.
In recent months GCO has:
• advocated for ideas and policies that will expand access to quality education, particularly for those for whom such access is severely limited
• recommended alternatives to Medicaid expansion that would increase Georgians’ access to quality healthcare. These recommendations have been presented to Georgia’s lawmakers and to many of our nation’s governors
• produced prisoner reentry policy recommendations—now signed into law and adopted by the Governor’s office — that increase the likelihood of ex-offenders finding and maintaining work, a key to successful reentry and public safety
• incubated Breakthrough Ambassadors, a community-based, mostly student-led program that prepares students for success both academically and professionally
But our work can’t stop here. Georgia continues to have high dropout rates, unwed childbearing rates, incarceration rates, and unemployment rates. Our obligation is to identify the barriers that stand in the way of human flourishing and remove them so that the men, women and children of today and tomorrow have a real chance to prosper.
We cannot seize opportunity on behalf of other individuals and families; but we can create a social, economic and even spiritual climate in which individuals and families are more likely to seize opportunity for themselves – to receive a great education, to find a steady job, to develop healthy relationships, and to form a healthy and stable family life.
The impact we’ve had – and the success we will have – is tied to your investment in our work. Simply put, we stand on your shoulders. But more importantly, so do people like
• the tens of thousands of other kids benefitting from better access to a quality education;
• the hundreds of kids we’re working with in public schools who are seeing a clearer path to prosperity;
• the thousands of former prisoners who will safely and peacefully reenter society, reconnect with their families, and find jobs; and
• the tens of thousands of families that will have access to quality healthcare through healthcare charities.
In other words, your impact is big!
A significant portion of our annual budget – and therefore our impact – is determined by gifts that are received during December. Will you consider a gift of $50, $100, $250, $500 or more? A gift of any size will make a difference. You may make a donation online here.
As always, please know that we are thankful for you and your generosity.
by Georgia Center for Opportunity | Dec 15, 2014
GCO’s latest report provides solutions that aim to minimize the role debt has in driving recidivism rates.
Offenders often leave prison owing tens of thousands of dollars in debt, creating serious obstacles to a successful reentry. The state expects returning offenders to pay these debts, though many struggle to simply find a job and a place to live.
Studies have shown average debt amounts in certain jurisdictions in the U.S. to be as high as $20,000 in child support arrears and between $500 and $2,000 in offense-related debt. Carrying an onerous amount of debt and having to immediately repay it puts tremendous financial pressure on recently released offenders. They face the threat of having their driver’s license suspended, having their wages garnished, and being re-incarcerated for failing to pay their obligations. These sanctions can discourage them from seeking legitimate employment and drive them to participate in the underground economy, leading them on a pathway back to prison.
Today, Georgia Center for Opportunity released a report titled A High Price to Pay: Recommendations for Minimizing Debt’s Role in Driving Recidivism Rates, which outlines several steps the state can take to encourage returning citizens to pay current obligations and repay debts in a realistic manner. Such action should result in more money going to support children and victims and result in fewer people ending up back behind bars.
The report’s recommendations include:
- Identify offenders with child support involvement upon entry to prison
- Provide child support information and services to parents during their incarceration
- Provide a 90-day grace period before indigent returning citizens have to pay their obligations and repay debts to ease the transition phase
- Limit the amount of wages to be garnished by the state
- Forgive fines, fees, and surcharges owed to the state for consistent payments of child support and restitution
- Reinstate driver’s licenses that were suspended for non-payment of child support
- Forgive arrears and interest owed to the state for a set number of consecutive payments of current child support***
- Designate a single agency to track and consolidate returning citizens’ debts
GCO will post a series of blogs that highlight different sections of the report, including the various factors that cause offenders to accrue debt, the effect debt can have in driving recidivism rates, and an in-depth look at the recommended policies.
Read the full report: A High Price to Pay: Recommendations for Minimizing Debt’s Role in Driving Recidivism Rates
***Edit to the report: May 6, 2015
At the time of writing the report, the author was unaware that Georgia already has a detailed debt reduction program in place to assist indigent non-custodial parents who owe arrears to the state. The Division of Child Support Services’ (DCSS) State Debt Reduction Program (SDRP) provides non-custodial parents the ability to have a significant percentage of their state-owed arrears reduced if an agent determines that:
(1) “Good cause” existed for the nonpayment of the public assistance debt;
(2) Repayment or enforcement of the debt would result in substantial and unreasonable hardship for the parent owing the debt;
(3) The non-custodial parent is currently unable to pay the debt;
(4) The non-custodial parent is making regular payments of current child support, regardless of the amount.
The amount that eligible non-custodial parents can have their arrears reduced depends upon the amount they owe. Those with a greater amount of arrears owed to the state are eligible to have a greater percentage reduced (with the exception of those who owe less than $100, who can have their entire state-owed arrears balance waived). For example, non-custodial parents with state-owed arrears balances of $9,000 or greater can have their arrears waved or reduced by 75 percent, so long as they pay the remaining 25 percent owed in a lump sum payment or in 24 monthly installments.[i]
While Georgia has a detailed debt reduction program in place, it appears that the participation in the program is limited. In 2014, only 349 out of the 354,427 total non-custodial parents ordered to pay child support in Georgia entered into the plan, based on the 30 DCSS offices that reported.[ii]* More should be done to enroll struggling returning citizens with child support arrears owed to the state into the program. One way the state can do this is by promoting it within the Fatherhood Program and Child Support Problem Solving Courts (PSCs), which returning citizens will be likely to participate in.
Sources:
[i] Division of Child Support Services, “State Debt Reduction Guidelines,” Employee Reference Guide – Standard Operating Procedure 251, Email Release May 24, 2013.
[ii] Erica Thornton, Manager of the Policy and Paternity Unit, Division of Child Support Services, Georgia Department of Human Services, email message to author, February 3, 2015; Georgia Department of Human Services, “Division of Child Support Services: Fact Sheet,” Revised November 2014.
*While not all 354,427 non-custodial parents ordered to pay child support in Georgia owe arrears to the state, the large figure suggests that there may be numerous non-custodial parents (particularly those reentering society from prison) who do (or should) qualify for the program, but are currently being overlooked.
