NEWS & OPINIONS
U.S. House Appropriations Committee Voted to Cut Charter Schools Program Funding
Lawmakers Stifle Learning The U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently voted to cut $40 million from the federal Charter Schools Program, in addition to placing new burdensome restrictions on how charter schools operate. In response, the Georgia Center for...
The Value of Family
Importance of Family At GCO, the impact area of Family, we always need volunteers. Since we devote much of our time and efforts to family, we enjoy hearing what about family inspires people to volunteer. Eda Beacham is a current volunteer for GCO and we wanted to...
Improve Your Life with a Growth Mindset
Learning keeps you growing Most people agree that learning is important. I’m just not sure we understand how important it really is. I can still remember as a child believing that I needed to know everything or people wouldn’t think I was smart and capable. I hear...
A renewed reason to celebrate this Fourth of July
This year we celebrated our country and one of its biggest values...family. For many the Fourth of July is more than just a celebration of our country’s birth—it is an opportunity to gather with family. An opportunity to connect and celebrate together. It feels like...
GCO Testifies Before U.S. House On Benefits Cliffs
Examining the SNAP Benefit Cliff On July 12, 2021, Eric Randolph, GCO’s Director of Research, testified before the U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations about how welfare programs often hurt the very people they are...
Promote Purchasing Power—Not the Minimum Wage
How to help working families the most During a focus group session on working class families we recently conducted at the Georgia Center for Opportunity, Jazmine* made an observation more perceptive than most experts. Our focus group consisted of working-class...
Gov’t. check can’t beat work’s dignity | AJC
Jobs provide dignity and purpose to people’s lives and contribute to community flourishing in ways that can’t be measured by monthly employment reports.
Help From Where You Least Expect It
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find a better job; I might have to go back [to prison].” Two months out of prison, Ray (name changed for anonymity) was explaining to me that he had reached the end of his rope. He had been struggling to find work that...
Origins of the Georgia Center for Opportunity: Why we choose to focus on work
You’ve probably heard that if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day—but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. And while the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) mission to alleviate poverty by removing barriers to human flourishing is grounded in...
BETTER WORK adds direct-to-business job applications
Working to more quickly connect our communities to work. In efforts to better address the needs of the unemployed in our communities, we have taken an evolving learning approach to how we support those in need. Not only are we looking to learn from those in need, but...
Connecting the Presence of an Honored Father
Kenneth Braswell of Father’s Incorporated was recently honored on OWN’s Spotlight Celebrating Black Fatherhood. It brought back a positive memory of the dad event (The Dad Factor: Presence) hosted by the Georgia Center for Opportunity, where fathers and father’s to be...
Putting Georgia’s employment numbers in perspective
Is there any reason not to cheer? Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in May. Here are three reasons why this looks good for Georgia. First, the unemployment rate is declining, giving optimism that the economy is bouncing back from the pandemic....
MEDIA MENTIONS
Letter: Reimagine how children stay connected to school | THE ROANOKE TIMES
The June 8 Roanoke School Board meeting addressed student learning loss and post-pandemic reorganization. As a Hollins University student and member of the Roanoke community, I care about access to education. In my research, I found a study from the Georgia Center for...
Inflation is running wild — poor and low-income Americans will be hurt the most | QUAD CITY TIMES
How can we help working families the most? Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular solution, but it’s a short-sighted one given the reality that inflation — the silent assassin of Americans’ livelihoods, particularly for the poor — is now running the...
Gov’t. check can’t beat work’s dignity | AJC
Jobs provide dignity and purpose to people’s lives and contribute to community flourishing in ways that can’t be measured by monthly employment reports.
Biden’s ‘Illusions Of Economic Magic’ Fail The Forgotten American | DAILY CALLER
In a very different time — yet in similar economic straits — then-presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the “forgotten man,” the American left behind by seismic trends and sweeping changes beyond his control. “These unhappy times call for the building...
Joining Forces to Get Our Neighbors Employment Ready | SAPORTA REPORT
In tandem with finding stable employment, many caregivers and heads of household are dealing with trauma and other socioemotional challenges. That is where Families First comes in. We have developed a screening tool to assess resiliency, a person’s ability to get back...
Kemp signs school-choice expansion bills in Georgia | WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a trio of bills Thursday to expand education options in Georgia. Senate Bill 47 expands the state's Special Needs Scholarship program to students with 504 Plans. The program offers scholarships for students with individualized education plans to...
Kemp signs school-choice expansion bills in Georgia | CENTER SQUARE
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a trio of bills Thursday to expand education options in Georgia. Senate Bill 47 expands the state's Special Needs Scholarship program to students with 504 Plans. The program offers scholarships for students with individualized education plans to...
Foster children, homeless students to get free tuition in Georgia | JOHNSON CITY PRESS
Foster children and students who are identified as homeless will be able to attend Georgia public universities and technical colleges for free, starting July 1. Senate Bill 107 was part of a legislation package signed Monday by Gov. Brian Kemp aimed at improving the...
