For most Kentuckians, March is a sacred time of basketball and brackets. For our school nutrition professionals and students, however, March is also the home of National School Breakfast Week and National Nutrition Month. Throughout the pandemic, one slam dunk for kids has been the USDA Child Nutrition Programs, which ensure kids across Kentucky have access to at least two meals a day during the school year and one a day during the summer months. [...]
Over one million Kentucky families can claim the second half of the expanded Child Tax Credit this tax season, which is open until April 18! The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 made big changes to the Child Tax Credit, expanding eligibility to cover an estimated 93% of Kentucky kids and splitting the credit into two halves. Eligible Kentucky families received the first half of the expanded credit through monthly Child Tax Credit payments that [...]
Kids rely on their parents to provide a safe home where all of their emotional, physical, and financial needs can be met. Unfortunately, in Kentucky more than one in 10 children have had a parent separated from them due to incarceration—the 6th highest rate in the nation. Parental incarceration is an Adverse Childhood Experience that has been referred to as a “shared sentence” due to the short and long-term effects it has on a child’s [...]
The recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill) will be used to repair potholes in our nation’s roads and bridges. However, there is a major pothole for kids, families, and local economies that we have yet to address: child care. Thankfully, the child care sector has gotten some much needed investment via federal COVID relief measures including CRSSA, CARES, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to help stabilize the sector. As we [...]
Read about the September meeting of the Commission on Race and Opportunity here. The Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity held an October meeting featuring presentations from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Prichard Committee. These groups presented on topics ranging from the workforce and economic opportunity to education and discipline. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s presentation walked through the Chamber’s racial equity report that was released earlier this year, Achieving Equity to [...]
It’s open enrollment season, and kynect is back to help Kentuckians find affordable healthcare plans! Kynect is Kentucky’s state-based healthcare and family support marketplace, where Kentuckians can browse for affordable health insurance plans and apply for family support programs, such as child care, health care, and food assistance. Kentuckians can enroll in health coverage through kynect between November 1, 2021 and January 15, 2022; however, families have been able to browse available plans since October [...]
In this week’s Advocate Virtual Forum, we covered one of this year’s hottest topics: compensation for early childhood educators. Panelists Laura Hogan with National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Brenda Hagan with the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, Jennifer Washburn with iKids Childhood Enrichment Center, and Kevin Fields with Louisville Central Community Centers discussed the challenge’s child care providers are facing, issues facing the early childhood workforce, and potential solutions to common workforce [...]
Check out our previous blog posts on the federal Child Tax Credit 2021 from May and June. Starting July 15th, over 1 million Kentucky families began receiving monthly payments through the expanded federal Child Tax Credit. This expanded Child Tax Credit is estimated to reduce childhood poverty by 49 percent in Kentucky and has already helped families across the Commonwealth fulfill their basic needs, such as putting food on the table. Eligible families should see [...]
