If you asked most Kentuckians what March is about, you would probably hear something along the lines of basketball or winning their March Madness bracket. However, there is a lesser-known reason to celebrate in March: National Nutrition Month. Access to healthy foods is essential for a child to learn, grow, and thrive, yet almost one in six Kentucky kids are experiencing hunger. Many of these children rely on meals served through government programs, such as [...]
Pregnancy and early childhood is considered a special time in life. However, any new parent will tell you it is also an expensive time. The cost of giving birth, caring for a new child, and child care can often be more than new parents make. To address the financial challenges that new parents face, Senator Whitney Westerfield introduced Senate Bill 34. This legislation contains a multitude of provisions that provide for the basic health and [...]
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women’s, Infant, and Children (WIC) provides vital support for the food and nutrition security of pregnant women, new moms, babies, and young children by providing food assistance via an EBT card, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support. However, we know the program only reaches every three out of five families that are eligible. To better understand how this program operates in the Commonwealth, Kentucky Youth Advocates and our WIC CIAO [...]
Kentucky kids and families need a safe, stable home in order to thrive. However, the rising cost and declining supply of housing has made it difficult for 43% of Kentucky renters to find safe, stable housing. For many of these families, a job loss or medical emergency could put them at risk for eviction, seriously impacting their long term economic, food, and housing security. Evictions have long been viewed as an adult problem, but new [...]
Young adults often need a lot of extra support as they transition into adulthood, with many young adults relying on their family or another trusted adult for that support. However, approximately 650 youth across Kentucky age out of the foster care system every year without permanent family connections. Youth who have aged out of foster care often struggle to meet their basic needs, such as food and housing, with 21% of former Kentucky foster youth [...]
It is back to school season here in Kentucky! Kids all across the Commonwealth are preparing for another year of learning and reconnecting with friends. At the same time, back to school has left many working parents across Kentucky wondering the same thing: where is my kid going to go until I get off work? Almost 1,500 organizations across Kentucky address this by providing afterschool care for school-age children. These afterschool programs provide kids with [...]
Congress has until September 30th to pass one of the largest pieces of federal legislation - the 2023 Farm Bill. This massive piece of legislation has a major impact on the lives of virtually every Kentucky kid and family, covering everything from food assistance programs to farmers markets and crop insurance to hemp. While the Farm Bill covers everything related to food and agriculture, the largest portion of the Bill covers federal nutrition programs, such [...]
Updated August 7, 2023 Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) has been one of the most vital supports for children and families throughout the last couple of years, providing grocery money to families who would have usually received free and reduced school meals. We are excited to share that Kentucky has started distributing P-EBT benefits for certain populations. We do not know how every type of Pandemic EBT will be distributed yet, but we will be updating [...]
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women’s, Infant, and Children (WIC) provides vital support for the food and nutrition security of pregnant women, new moms, babies, and young children by providing food assistance via an EBT card, nutrition education, and breastfeeding support. While this support is critical for new parents and young children, the WIC program is out of date and does not reach everyone who is eligible. Kinship caregivers and Kentucky’s Latinx population face [...]
The USDA school nutrition programs, like the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, are crucial to ensuring that kids have access to consistent, nutritious meals throughout the school year. With over 1 in 6 Kentucky kids not having enough to eat and research finding that school meals are some of the healthiest meals students consume, these programs are vital for the health and nutrition of Kentucky kids. Despite how vital these programs are, we [...]
