Leaders informed on how Albany could change the face of poverty in Georgia
ALBANY, GA -- The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a rise and shine breakfast focusing on Strive 2 Thrive.
Community leaders from the MCLB, Dougherty County School System, elected officials, business leaders and more came together to support the Strive 2 Thrive initiative which aims to end Albany’s poverty problem.
Catherine Glover with the Chamber of Commerce says the community leaders have a vested interest in the program because the Strive 2 Thrive initiative impacts everything from job creation to business attraction to self sufficiency which will add more people on the tax base. “Strive 2 Thrive is important to our leaders because they want Southwest Georgia to have a successful economy” says Glover.
The guest speaker of the breakfast was Scott Miller, CEO of Move the Mountain, a national organization to equip communities with the skills to end poverty. Miller says we can and should end poverty in America. “It’s expensive to keep people in poverty and its unnecessary. We have the means to fix this now and so the message today is we would love to see Albany be a success case for the country about what it would look like to take poverty from a very large number to a very small number over the next few years” says Miller.
When the vision of getting out of poverty meets reality, families involved with Strive 2 Thrive say they’ve seen a difference in real life. Kimberly Harrell says the program has changed the way she approaches life. “It has changed my whole way of thinking. Me and my husband. We used to just live for today. Now we’re planning for the future…for next month, for next year. We’re planning ahead a lot now because we want a better life for ourselves and our kids” says Harrell.
Strive 2 Thrive has the potential to be the training location for all future Georgia based programs that are affiliated with Move the Mountain.
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