Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

family breakthrough

Don’t miss our upcoming family Breakthrough event

Transforming broken relationships into flourishing families

Key Points

  • Many people are experiencing broken relationships at home, work, and school.

  • Helping people have healthy relationships will result in nothing less than full community transformation.

  • The event is on Thursday, August 25, from 10:30am to 12:30pm at Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia.

Family makes us stronger

The world is filled with negative headlines right now. These headlines reflect the real pain we’re all experiencing in our communities. Today, more than ever, we are experiencing broken relationships at home, work, and school.

In dating relationships, Pew Research tells us that nearly half of U.S. adults say dating has gotten harder for most people in the last 10 years. As for relationships at work, Gallup finds that 60% of people are emotionally detached at work and 19% are miserable. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to increased rates of divorce.

We know that a key way to restore community health is by fostering healthy relationships. These relationships are the bedrock of our culture. When they suffer, we all suffer. Helping people have healthy relationships will result in nothing less than full community transformation.

That’s the theme of an upcoming Breakthrough event focused on family and relational health sponsored by the Georgia Center for Opportunity. The event 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. You don’t want to miss it!

 

Speakers at the event include:

  • Kristen Hypolite, COO of Every Woman Works
  • Dr. Natalie Looney, Principal of Summerour Middle School
  • Michael Doyne, Parent Instructional Coordinator at Lilburn Middle School

  • Ian Rowe, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

Family makes us stronger

Each of us has within us the option of having the right attitude will drive our behavior which allows us to make better choices. When you leave the session, you’ll have a deeper understanding of what family formation means and the reason it is important.

We are inviting everyone to attend, whether you represent a school, a church, a government agency, institution of local government, or nonprofit, we want you at this event.

 

Collective Impact “Knowledge Nuggets”

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!

Sometimes A World-Class School Just Isn’t Enough

Who is responsible for our children’s education? Parents? Schools? Most would probably quickly agree that these parties are of paramount importance in insuring the education of future generations. However, what if businesses, faith-based groups, and non-profits were added to that list? What if there was community-wide shared responsibility for education?

Norcross high school is ranked 8th in Georgia.  It boasts numerous athletic state championships, and is an International Baccalaureate World School  — carrying a rigorous curriculum track that attracts students from other districts across Gwinnett County.   However, only 70% of NHS students graduated in 2012.

At first glance, many would be shocked at this reality. How does a school of this undeniable high academic quality produce a graduation rate barely above the state average (69.72% in 2012)?  In order to fairly answer that question, it helps go a few layers deeper into school data.

The Norcross cluster served just under 12,000 students in the 2011-2012 school year, of which 25% were classified as English learners and 72% as economically disadvantaged. The state averages for those classifications are 5% and 57%, respectively. This reveals a valuable insight: there are complexities impeding education that are rooted outside of the classroom.  Given the external factors in place, Norcross is truly doing a phenomenal job at educating our children.

Demographic trends show that these emerging complexities are only growing in scope.  So what is the solution?

You probably guessed it…that old “ it takes a village” cliché; except with a bit of a twist.  Granted, the parent and teacher have a bit different role than the town blacksmith, but the blacksmith should still have a great interest in the education of his future clientele.

Because a community is impacted by its schools (e.g., property values, attractiveness to employers, etc), it should take a vested interest in their performance.  As evidenced by the Strive Partnership in Cincinnati, OH, cross-sector community investment in education is proven to effect significant change in educational outcomes.  They have adopted a philosophy of varied accountability, but a fully shared responsibility.

Breakthrough Communities is GCO’s approach to taking the proverbial bull by the horns in the Norcross school cluster.  We believe that by establishing a community-wide common agenda, participating in mutually reinforcing activities, utilizing shared data measures, and implementing continuous improvement, we can see the systems of support changed for our students.

Imagine how student performance could be changed if after school programs, summer day camps, community based mentoring efforts, tutoring initiatives, and teachers were all watching the same numbers, and each one knew exactly how their efforts played an integral role in improving those numbers.

What if, through a collective alignment of efforts, the Norcross High graduation rate increased to 90%?  Don’t you think that the benefit of that change would impact more than the additional graduates and their families?  The represented cohort of 195 graduates would increase the gross state product by $3.1 million each year and spend an additional $215,000 each year exclusively on purchasing vehicles.

So, next time you read an article or hear a news report that is blasting poor school performance, stop and ask yourself two questions:  1) What is the rest of the story behind the alleged poor performance numbers?  2) How can you be a part of changing the future realities for students?