I do not go to the movies to answer life’s questions. Instead, I prefer the excitement of an espionage talk or the laughs from a comedy. Maybe that is why I enjoyed watching “Back to the Future” with my oldest grandkids last weekend. The 1985 adventures of Marty McFly racing back into the 50’s do not cause deep soul searching, but it did prompt a “cerebral itch.” As part of the Annie E. Casey Foundation [...]
Budgets always require tough choices, and on Tuesday, Governor Beshear built on his previous commitment to kids around health and high school graduation and became “the Children’s Governor” because of the choices he made, the priorities he established, and the values he exemplified. In what is arguably the most historic budget address for kids in the Commonwealth in decades, Governor Beshear laid out an agenda that is as smart as it is bold. He tackled [...]
The 10th Children’s Advocacy Day saw hundreds of children’s champions invade Frankfort today to join voices in calling for our leaders to make Kentucky the best place in America to be young. You could not be in the Rotunda for the 10AM Rally or there for the 1PM KIDS COUNT briefing and award ceremony and not sense the power of that collective force. I am so thankful for the many partners and sponsors that brought [...]
Last week I wrote about New Year’s resolutions. This week it’s about New Year’s predictions. TIME Magazine’s January 13 issue is totally focused on the year ahead. It predicts all kinds of issues for 2014 in all kinds of areas – power, commerce, innovation, culture and sports. If TIME is right, then: Janet Yellen may become the most powerful person in the world when she takes over the Fed; The PC will be as extinct [...]
It is altogether fitting and proper that a major piece of the Governor’s speech was about kids and families. The Governor, in fact, took an important first step in protecting children from abuse - he is appropriately touted as a health reformer whose efforts work - and he and the First Lady were pivotal in raising the graduation rate. And much of the vision that he describes is truly aspirational for children. Once again, his [...]
This post originally appeared as an Op-Ed in the Courier Journal on January 6, 2014. You can find it online, here. The Courier-Journal’s Dec. 29 editorial on Kentucky’s “runaway cabinet” raised numerous questions about how the state can better protect children from dying due to abuse or neglect. We hope the editorial brought more than just questions, however. We want it to inspire the Beshear administration and the Kentucky General Assembly to take immediate and long-term steps [...]
It’s that time of year. U of L wins a bowl game! I don’t want to talk about the U of L/UK basketball game. Those Holiday decorations come down. And we all make a few New Year’s resolutions, whether we admit it or not! You can find lists of resolutions that detail the most common commitments to a new year. Items like: “Get in shape.” “Get my finances in order.” “Pay attention to balance in [...]
Kentucky Youth Advocates Board and Staff wish you a great holiday season and look forward to seeing you in the new year!
I’d like to start with two seemingly disparate paragraphs. The first is about Edward DeBono. DeBono is one interesting guy. He holds multiple doctorates – including a medical degree – from places like Oxford and Cambridge. A Rhodes Scholar, DeBono has held faculty appointments at his two alma maters and Harvard. He is widely viewed as the leading international researcher around the neuroscience of thinking. While he has written over seventy books, his research was [...]
On behalf of all of us at Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA), we send to each of you – our partners – the best hopes for a blessed and meaningful Thanksgiving. That wonderful writer and theologian, Chuck Swindoll, remembers a Thanksgiving in 1944 when he had just turned ten and was in the fifth grade at Southmayd Elementary School in East Houston. He recalls: Draped high across the front of our classroom was a huge American [...]
