Did anything good happen in 2023? As a matter of fact, yes!

By Peggy Perkins

Over the last 3 years, a tight labor market has undone an estimated 38% of wage inequality between poor and wealthy workers and young workers without college degrees benefited the most. An increase in clean energy companies opening in Georgia is creating thousands of jobs with unemployment hovering around 3.2%.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, our county’s average weekly wage is $942.00.  It was around a $100 less under Trump.  Not a bad increase.

Stocks soared in 2023 and those gains mean that everyone with savings and investments in the market is quite a bit richer than they were at the beginning of the year.  Holiday sales rose this year and spending remained resilient.  People vacationed and travelled at record levels.

Our Sheriff’s Office received federal funding to purchase law enforcement technology to keep our community safe.  Westside Middle, Holsenbeck Elementary and Apalachee High School received grants to give their students opportunities that prepare them for life and keep them engaged in school.

A grant funded by the American Rescue Plan, was awarded to Learning Voyage Success Center of Winder to assist its providing child care services outside the traditional hours of M-F, 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The price of insulin for Barrow County seniors dropped and Medicare can now negotiate drug prices for some medications.  In addition, rural areas received funding to deal with climate change, aging infrastructure systems and expand high-speed internet.

The FDA approved a groundbreaking pill to treat postpartum depression, which affects up to 1 in 5 women.  That agency also approved the first-ever gene editing treatment, offering a potential cure for sickle cell disease.  Understanding dementia and how to prevent it made progress with the FDA giving full approval, for the first time, to a drug that modestly slows Alzheimer’s disease.

These good things that happened in 2023 for Barrow County and our state would not have occurred without the leadership of President Biden and Democrats working with Republicans to solve problems.

Peggy Perkins resides Winder