Yesterday’s Children’s Advocacy Day was one of the biggest yet, with over 700 children, youth, and adults attending to ask leaders to step up for kids in 2015. Thank you to the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children partners, sponsors, speakers, performers, and elected and appointed officials who made the day possible. And thank you to the hundreds of people—including more than 150 youth—who prioritized Kentucky’s kids and took time to advocate on their behalf!
During the rally, we presented the 2015 Champion for Children Community Leader of the Year Award to Randy Coe, President of Kosair Charities, for his work to protect children from child abuse. We also presented 2015 Champion for Children awards to several elected and appointed officials for their work on behalf of children, including Senate President Robert Stivers, Senator Whitney Westerfield, Senator Denise Harper Angel, Representative John Tilley, Representative Rick Rand, Representative Addia Wuchner, Representative Susan Westrom, Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes, Secretary J. Michael Brown, and Commissioner Teresa James. President Stivers addressed the crowd and assured them that legislators will continue to protect Kentucky kids.
Lieutenant Governor Crit Luallen energized advocates at the rally and reminded them that their voice matters, not just on Children’s Advocacy Day, but every day in Frankfort. After the rally, she spoke to youth at the Capitol Education Center and encouraged them to be leaders and to stand up for themselves—and for other youth and children across the Commonwealth.
See what happened on social media by reading the Children’s Advocacy Day Storify.
Be sure to keep up the momentum by following legislative updates and taking action throughout the rest of the 2015 General Assembly. View our legislative updates page here and our action alerts here. Want to receive action alerts in your inbox? Sign up for our email updates here. Several children’s bills are progressing quickly and will go up for votes soon, so take action today. Read what has happened this week since the General Assembly resumed their session here.
We look forward to seeing you at the 12th Annual Children’s Advocacy Day in 2016!
I was glad to attend and advocate for our children and learn even more in workshops about the issues outlined in #blueprintky.It was nice meeting with Sen. Robin Webb who does plan to read all the bills (HB145) before voting (should the bills make it to the Senate). She feels this decision should be made locally. As we ask legislators to support #SmokeFreeKy on 2/11 at the Annex in Frankfort, I hope we can at least agree that having to breathe #2ndHandSmoke which is killing so many -shouldn’t be optional! As you might know, it has over 250 chemicals that are toxic or can cause cancer. People can smoke just not in selected closed in places. Who do we go to when our local leaders don’t choose to protect our children?
Kentucky Youth Advocates reminds us that “Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke. Smoke-free policies have the potential to be one of the most effective and cost-effective approaches for reducing acute coronary events. Call your legislators at 1-800-372-7181 and tell them to support HB145.”
(Correction: The above quote was by Smoke-Free Kentucky-Take Action’s Fb page, KYA is promoting.)
Do these states love their children more? Currently, 25 states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive laws that prohibit smoking in indoor areas of worksites, restaurants, and bars. However, there are regional differences in the states that have smoke-free laws. For example, seven states (Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming) have no statewide smoking restrictions in place. In other words, there are no statewide smoking restrictions for worksites, restaurants, or bars in these states. And in the South, while some states have a restriction for one or two venues, no southern state has a comprehensive state smoke-free law in effect that prohibits smoking in all three venues (worksites, restaurants, and bars). Comprehensive smoke-free laws are needed because the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke is to establish a smoke-free environment. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings do not fully eliminate secondhand smoke.