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Community development

“The secret is in the soil.” 

That’s how Georgia Center for Opportunity President and CEO Randy Hicks opened Breakthrough 2019.

Randy shared the story of how Moses Coleman discovered Vidalia onions purely by accident in 1931. These onions can only be grown in a 20-county region in southeast Georgia where the soil conditions are perfect.

Randy speaking at BreakthroughRandy encouraged Breakthrough attendees to consider a different kind of soil: “The conditions of our homes and our communities.”

“It’s easy and important for us to be very aware of Georgia’s macro issues—statewide economic numbers, student performance, and criminal justice issues,” Randy said. “But we can’t just look at those issues and not consider the conditions that often have more to do with our well-being than anything else. That’s the soil.”

Watch the video and then check back soon for more content from Breakthrough 2019!

Healthy families are the bedrock of a healthy, prosperous society. They are the place where children develop the values, skills, and habits that largely determine the kind of adults they will become.

Georgia Center for Opportunity’s Healthy Families Initiative (HFI) launch on Thursday, April 7th was a great success. The goal of the event was to bring together community leaders, certified trainers, pastors, businesses, and GCO supporters for a day of focusing on families and to provide them with news about this new initiative and the work being done in Norcross and Peachtree Corners.

Joyce Whitted, HFI Program Manager, shared detailed information about the five focus areas of the initiative, including:
1. Launching a PR campaign saturating the community with positive messaging about family.

2. Providing relationship education and enrichment courses.

3. Working with local churches and other religious organization to provide mentoring to adolescents and young couples

4. Improving vocational education and apprenticeship opportunities in the area

5. Working with leaders to ensure state laws encourage family formation

Community partners like the A.Worley Boys & Girls Club, Norcross Human Services Center, Robert D. Fowler YMCA, Single Parent Alliance Resource Center, and Community Based Mentoring were in attendance to lend their support for the program. Guest speakers Bishop Garland Hunt of The Father’s House, Greg Griffin, a Christian counselor, and Shay Marlowe, Goodwill Career Services and a HFI Certified Trainer in 24/7 Dad all echoed the importance of healthy families and how it impacts everyone in Georgia.

Beverly Washington, a resident of Norcross, stated that her greatest take-a-ways were “Networking and seeing so many passionate individuals focused on helping our community.”

The certified trainers who have been on the ground helping to educate individuals and families on healthy relationship skills were also on-hand to give personal accounts of their interactions with participants in the programs being offered through the HFI Initiative.

The event was a success because those in attendance expressed their passion to be part of the positive focus on healthy families and, ultimately, to see the negative trends plaguing families in Georgia reversed.

For more information about how to get involved with the Healthy Families Initiative visit www.hfigeorgia@opportunity.org or call 877-814-0535.

I may be dating myself, but there used to be a radio show that I enjoyed entitled “Calling all Cars.” The title of the show was based on a saying used in the show that was merely an order given to all available units that there was something wrong – like a crime in progress – and help was needed immediately. There were two reasons that I liked that show. First, the episodes were based on real-life stories. Secondly, and most importantly, I liked the idea of having a mantra or a call to action that brought people together to help others.

Today there are a lot of families who need help because they are struggling – to form, to remain healthy, or stay together. And the causes for the struggles families face are many – lack of education, unstable employment, communication problems, or misplaced government assistance. Georgia Center of Opportunity is currently working with community partners through the Healthy Families Initiative to remove many of these barriers with the goal of helping all Georgians enjoy a healthy family life.

The Healthy Families Initiative kicked off this month in the Norcross and Peachtree Corners communities as a means to combat the issues in life that keep families from forming and thriving. Through the initiative, we are providing tools to individuals, couples, and partner organizations that will allow them champion and experience healthy relationships and strong marriages.

The collaboration of the community is extremely vital to this program. The community can engage in fostering the growth of this program in a number of ways, including by offering prayer for this initiative, as well as prayer for those teaching and participating in the classes. When this program is successful, the entire community will reap the rewards of more children being born to their married parents, growing up in homes characterized by healthy relationships, and living lives free of poverty and deprivation.

We’re asking for prayer teams to become our partners in prayer for one month. If we can have a church every month praying for those in the Norcross and Peachtree Corners area, think of how many families that can be helped! We really need your prayers, and can provide a detailed prayer list. If you or your organization would like to find out more, please email me at joyce.whitted@georgiaopportunity.org or call @ 770-242-0001 x707. We really need your help!

GCO’s Breakthrough Communities initiative is modeled, in part, on the collective impact framework developed by the Strive Partnership in Cincinnati, OH.  Over the past few months we have participated in numerous opportunities to learn from Strive, most recently we attended Strive Together’s third annual Cradle-to-Career Network Convening, in Dallas, TX.

To kick the convening off Jeff Edmondson, Strive Together Managing Director, shared a  list of “Knowledge Nuggets” that he had gathered over his years of work in the world of educational collective impact.  Below are a few that resonated with the work that is taking place in our first Breakthrough Community, Peachtree Corners & Norcross.

 

“I don’t care where it lives, I care how it behaves.” 

One of the first questions I was asked at the convening was, “Where do you live?” To which, I answered “Buford, GA.”   The woman asking the question was quick to clarify what she was asking, “No, What is your anchor entity?  Where does your partnership live?”    Now I get it.  I shared briefly about GCO and how it is serving to support the Breakthrough PCN initiative.   This really framed this Knowledge Nugget for me.  One axiomatic realization from the Convening is that there is no normal for cradle to career partnerships.   Some “live” in universities, others in United Ways, some in community foundations,  a cohort are backed by chambers of commerce.  The bottom line is that it should not matter what organization is serving as an anchor entity or backbone support role, what matters is behavior – how successfully is the partnership achieving its collective impact goals.

 

“There is a difference between engaged and committed.”

This resonated with me immediately.  Of course, as one sits across a table from a community leader and brings up the topic of education the leader will be engaged in the conversation.  Often community leaders will even be very excited about the efforts that are developing.  However, what keeps the wheels of collective impact turning is not engagement, but undoubtedly, commitment.  The process simply requires an organizational trust and vulnerability that all but prohibits success without the true long-term commitment of all involved parties.

 

“Action looks different now.”

Why must you be committed?  Because, inevitably, this process is going to open your eyes to ways that action is going to change.  Whether you are a funder who has to learn to look past outputs to true measurable outcomes, a non-profit who realizes that a program is ineffective and must be modified or eliminated, or maybe a business who realizes that the true battle ground for work force development is not what you expected – action looks different.  There is no room in collective impact for a program that doesn’t push an indicator. Collective impact depends upon continuous improvement, and always pushing toward what proves to be the best solution.   It was clear in discussions with partnership directors from around the country that action does look different now.

 

Through efforts to begin developing a collective impact here in the Norcross and Peachtree Corners communities, we are seeing the truth of these simple quotes lived out, and learning how deeply interconnected they are.  The reality is, what matters about an intervention or support program is not who provides it or where it is offered – what should be the bottom line is its efficacy.    However, growing that perspective requires some collaboration, which will demand the commitment of involved parties.  Ultimately, as this starts to happen action will begin to look very different – and hopefully fare more successful!

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