Elevate relationship classes are helping couples recover from the COVID-19 pandemic

by David Bass | Aug 15, 2022

Elevate relationship classes are helping couples recover from the COVID-19 pandemic

Key Points

Elevate program: couples are enrolled in eight 90-minute sessions that cover the seven core skills and qualities for relational health.
Elevate is available free-of-charge to couples.
Elevate classes provide — an opportunity for couples to practice better intentionality, to understand their partner better, and how to prioritize their relationship.

Today, couples face both internal and external pressures like never before. Many couples who weren’t struggling before the pandemic are struggling now, while those who were already in crisis now face an even worse situation.

Thankfully, there is a resource for couples in Georgia. It’s called the Elevate program and it’s a core part of the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) mission.

Through the Elevate program, couples are enrolled in eight 90-minute sessions that cover the seven core skills and qualities for relational health. Given the need for a remote option, workshops are available both in-person in 12 counties in Georgia — including Gwinnett, Henry, and Houston counties — and virtual workshops where couples can participate from home.

Topics covered include how to:

Be more intentional and focused in your relationship
Better manage stress in your life
Strengthen your connection with each other
Develop a greater appreciation for one another
Spend more quality time together
Deal with differences in healthy ways
Build support for your relationship and family

To learn more about Elevate and how you can participate in one of the upcoming workshops, click here.

One of the best parts is that Elevate is available free-of-charge to couples. This is made possible through a federal grant through the Fostering Relationship and Economic Enrichment Project (Project F.R.E.E.).

There is a common thread in what Elevate classes provide — an opportunity for couples to practice better intentionality, to understand their partner better, and how to prioritize their relationship.

“I appreciate my spouse more as a result of the Elevate experience,” shared one class participant.

Another said, “The biggest thing we gained were ways to refocus the positivity in our relationship even when conflict arises and life is difficult.”

Still another couple shared that Elevate enabled them to communicate on a more intimate level: “We still have layers to work through but the Elevate experience has given us fresh insight to navigate our path forward.”

Here are a few of the reasons couples chose to enroll in Elevate:

Create better intentional dialogue between partners
Create a closer connection through communication
Meet other couples similar to us
Tips for understanding my partner better
How to handle stressful moments in a relationship

“What I love about Elevate are the techniques that they teach the couples when dealing or handling stressors in their life,” said Katherine Greene, healthy families program manager for GCO. “I also love the way it taps into helping couples understand how their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors can influence their decision making and physical health. Elevate is extremely engaging and makes every interaction applicable to the lives of the couples, their family, and community.”

AEI’s Ian Rowe brings his experience & knowledge to the Breakthrough event

by David Bass | Aug 15, 2022

AEI’s Ian Rowe brings his experience & knowledge to the Breakthrough event

Key Points

Mr. Rowe has emerged as a dynamic voice on education, upward economic mobility, family formation, the Success Sequence, and adoption.
The family Breakthrough event will focus on the importance of people of all ages knowing their ABCs — Attitude, Behavior, and Choices.
The event is on Thursday, August 25, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia. Lunch is included.

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?

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

by David Bass | Aug 8, 2022

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

by David Bass | Jul 27, 2022

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.

Education Promise Scholarships Should be a Winning Issue

by Buzz Brockway | Jul 27, 2022

Education Promise Scholarships Should be a Winning Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a watershed moment for expanding educational options for Georgia students. For many parents and families, the pandemic was the crisis point that showed them, in stark reality, the dire need for a full menu of educational options – whether that be a traditional public school, a public charter school, virtual educational programs or home education.

You don t have to look far to understand why. During the worst of the pandemic and resulting school closures, many familes were forced into alternative ways of schooling for tthe first time ever. Families’ experience with how traditional public schools handled the shift to distance learning were mixed and inconsistent. Some schools and teachers excelled, ensuring students did not lose out on learning. Others threw their hands up –and the towel in — early. Kids have suffered as a result.

Read the full article here

What the June inflation numbers mean for the poor

by David Bass | Jul 25, 2022

What the June inflation numbers mean for the poor

Key Points

BLS reports, some of the biggest increases in prices were soon for essentials like gas for your car and groceries for your kitchen table.
A new price floor has been established.
A way forward involves, curtail federal deficit spending and adopting supply-side economic policies.

The inflationary environment in the U.S. and around the world continues to go from bad to worse. On July 13, the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics announced that in June the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.3%, not seasonally adjusted. That means, year over year, the CPI is now up 9.1%, which is the fastest pace of inflation in over four decades.

As the BLS reports, some of the biggest increases in prices were soon for essentials like gas for your car and groceries for your kitchen table:

“The increase was broad-based, with the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food being the largest contributors. The energy index rose 7.5 percent over the month and contributed nearly half of the all items increase, with the gasoline index rising 11.2 percent and the other major component indexes also rising. The food index rose 1.0 percent in June, as did the food at home index.”

The poor are hit hardest

The sad reality is that inflation shows few, if any, signs of lessening anytime soon. As we’ve said so many times before, the hardest hit are the poorest among us.

For example, a recent survey revealed the alarming truth that some families are skipping meals to deal with raging inflation. While inflation is inconvenient for the upper middle class and wealthy and concerning for the middle class, it’s downright devastating for the working class and poor.

Meanwhile, wage increases are lagging behind price increases. People are falling further and further behind.

A new floor for prices

What’s even more devastating than spiking inflation month-in, month-out is the new price level. As the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s director of research Erik Randolph points out, inflation is only part of the equation. We should also be focusing on the price level, which is defined as the new “floor” for the prices we all pay in the economy.

A gallon of milk might’ve cost $2.99 a year ago, for example, but now it’s $3.99. That new price is not going down, even as inflation eventually abates. A new price floor has been established and it becomes ingrained in our minds that a gallon of milk simply costs $4.

Simply put, leaving the price level elevated means we are leaving the economically disadvantaged further behind, exacerbating the economic divide in our nation.

A way forward

There are a number of public policy prescriptions that Randolph suggests for curbing inflation:

Curtail federal deficit spending.
Adopt supply-side economic policies, ones that cut red tape to reduce unnecessary government regulations, making it easier for entrepreneurs to start and expand businesses and for investors to take risks investing in business.

In our communities, initiatives such as BETTER WORK in the Atlanta and Columbus metro areas are also foundational to helping people find meaningful work, work that pays a living wage to better cope with highly inflationary times.