Vibrant communities where everyone can achieve their potential
BETTER OPPORTUNITIES
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITY
GCO welcomes new team members to grow our BETTER WORK initiative
The Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) is pleased to welcome two new team members, Mariah Thomas and Angelique Valentine. They will be program specialists for our BETTER WORK initiative. BETTER WORK empowers communities to be the first line of assistance for local...
Non-working adults concentrated in Georgia’s distressed communities
Many Georgia counties face high rates of non-working adults, fueling distress and limiting opportunities in struggling communities. See the percentages for your county.
What to know about education in Georgia as students go back to school
As August ushers in a new school year in Georgia, nearly two million students are headed back to our states 2,300 public schools. How are Georgia schools doing when it comes to preparing kids for work and life? Here’s a look at some key measures.
EXPANDING THE CONVERSATION
The fantasy that cutting prison populations saves a lot of money
Joshua Crawford in Governing Originally published October 31, 2025 State leaders hoping to trim budgets by reducing prison populations are in for some disappointment. Proponents of decarceration often tout potential savings, but despite a 24 percent drop in state...
New Report: Corrections spending rises in Georgia even as prison population declines
A new report by Joshua Crawford, Public Safety Fellow at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, shows that the decreasing number of inmates hasn’t translated to meaningful savings or improvements in public safety for Georgians.
National poverty rate fails to Capture the problem of poverty concentration in Georgia and beyond
PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA—The official poverty rate fell 0.4% to 10.6% in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest report on poverty. The data shows that 35.9 million Americans were living in poverty last year. These numbers suggest trends at a high level, but...
BETTER WORK
SHAY LEARNED THAT WORK MEANT MORE THAN A JOB FOR HER AND HER SON. THROUGH OUR BETTER WORK PROGRAM, SHAY HAS FOUND MEANINGFUL WORK.
