Yes Arts: Mobilizing the Power of Community and the Arts to Disrupt the Cycle of Addiction When we have the opportunity to celebrate the great work taking place in Kentucky, we make sure to SPROUT it out (our Bloom take on a Shout-Out!) when it comes to opioid abatement efforts. Sometimes tragedy can be a catalyst for change. After losing her daughter to a heroin/fentanyl overdose in 2015, Doris Thurber, along with other local [...]
As the temperature rises, so does our anticipation for the 2024-2025 Health Youth Ambassadors program! Are you a high school student eager to cultivate your advocacy and leadership skills? Do you envision yourself as a catalyst for positive change within your community and beyond? If the answer is yes, then seize this opportunity to become a Health Youth Ambassador with Kentucky Youth Advocates! The Health Youth Ambassadors (HYA) program is designed to empower youth [...]
Bloom Kentucky is committed to addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through policy change. We know that the multi-generational impacts of childhood adversity require an upstream approach and that often is done through legislative action and budget investments. Policy Priorities For this session, Bloom Kentucky identified policy priorities focused on ensuring a strong student-teacher pipeline, supporting access to school-based mental health, promoting housing stability and expanding prenatal and delivery care. Here’s a recap of how our [...]
What happens when passionate people who want to make a difference come together to listen and learn from one another? Pretty incredible things. On March 26th, Bloom Kentucky and the Greater Clark Foundation came together in Winchester at the Clark County Public Library for a Listening & Learning Session. During this session, attendees learned more about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Positive Childhood Experiences, Clark County regional data, received an update from the Sowing Resilience [...]
Understanding the nuances between chronic absenteeism and truancy is essential for educators, policymakers, and communities to enhance student engagement and success. Both of these terms often get conflated, yet they describe different patterns of absence with distinct implications for how schools may address absenteeism. For this reason, it’s important to know these differences, understand and use accurate data when describing these terms, and recognize that addressing absenteeism is a multifaceted issue that can be addressed [...]
Updated April 29, 2024 Grab your toolbox (reference from prior blog) because we are READY to add more tools! Bloom Kentucky hosted a webinar on Wednesday, April 24th – Blooming in your Backyard: Harnessing Opioid Settlement Funds for Local Impact! Co-hosted with the Kentucky Association of County Counties’ (KACo) Lauren Carr, Opioid Settlement Advisor, this webinar put a spotlight on the power of local action in the battle against the opioid crisis. Gain insight [...]
Senate Bill 2 of 2024, sponsored by Senator Max Wise, is what can be considered a continuation of the work he championed with the late Representative John “Bam” Carney in 2019 with the Kentucky School Safety and Resiliency Act. The work catalyzed by the tragedy at Marshall County High School in January 2018. The challenges of ensuring the physical and emotional security for both our students and educational staff call for innovative and comprehensive solutions. [...]
*Updated March 13, 2024 What does Bloom Kentucky and a toolbox have in common? Both share a fundamental purpose of empowerment and repair, providing essential tools and strategies to build resilience and mend the fabric of affected lives and communities. Here at Bloom Kentucky, we want to equip you and your community with the tools to leverage the historic opioid settlement funds for impact. On Wednesday, March 6th, Bloom Kentucky hosted a webinar with [...]
Two weeks ago, Frankfort became a buzzing hub of youthful energy and advocacy as over thirty dynamic young individuals from every corner of the Commonwealth convened for Kentucky Youth Advocates' annual youth retreat. This gathering, held on the eve of Children’s Advocacy Day, was not just any retreat – it was a vibrant confluence of minds eager to shape the future. Groups including KYA’s Health Youth Ambassadors, REFORM Louisville, True Up, and YouthBuild Louisville [...]
Many individuals may start off the new year with resolutions or promises to be kept throughout the year. Here with Bloom Kentucky, our hope is that we keep our commitment to kids and families in the year of 2024 and beyond when it comes to communicating the message of how the distribution of dollars from the Opioid Settlement can be used to make an impact. Primer on Opioid Settlement Funds As a quick primer [...]
