Smoke-Free Kentucky supporters are heading to the State Capitol to educate legislators about smoke-free policies. WHEN: Wednesday, February 12th, 2014, 8:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. WHERE: Kentucky State Capitol, Annex Room 111 REGISTER HERE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1W9Zw-AxrE1OSCIe5QR_zQQ70HtAKJgb7WtvT_d9Y82s/viewform
As we delve deeper into the holiday season, we are often reminded of how many families throughout the country, and here in the Commonwealth, struggle every day to make ends meet. So many parents are working and trying to take care of their children, and themselves. As our legislators prepare to head to Frankfort in January, they have opportunities to help these families in meaningful ways. Thousands of Kentucky families and communities could see immediate [...]
Children who have experienced abuse and neglect often face physical and emotional health problems that stay with them for years. These children need access to consistent and ongoing health care to recover from abuse, including access to health coverage and access to doctors, counselors, or other health professionals when they are in need of care. Recent changes in the health care system in Kentucky will allow all young people to stay on their parent’s health [...]
Step Up For Kids on #GivingTuesday by Investing in Kentucky Youth Advocates www.kyyouth.org/donate. Your Support DOES Make an Impact!
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 [...]
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and each year every magazine and morning talk show gives advice on what foods you should and should not eat to avoid packing on the pounds. One realm of health that is equally as important but often overlooked is oral health. Thanksgiving is about spending time with friends and family but for many, the real focus is on the food. It’s the one day where people feel like they have a [...]
Over the past few months, Kentucky Youth Advocates has been talking with professionals, surveying support group leaders and listening to kinship caregivers in order to identify the needs facing children in kinship care in Kentucky. Some 63,000 children in Kentucky are being raised by grandparents and other relatives, at the second highest rate in the nation. Last week we shared about confusion over the fact that all children who are being raised by relatives are [...]
Since its creation in 1975, the Earned Income Credit has grown to become the nation’s largest and most successful anti-poverty program. In 2011, the Earned Income Credit lifted more than 6 million people out of poverty. Undoubtedly, the Earned Income Credit benefits millions of hard-working families who would have a difficult time making ends meet without the refundable tax credit. Increasingly, however, the Earned Income Credit is also being recognized for its positive impact on [...]
Do we run systems for children from an adult orientation or a kid’s perspective? That is this week’s big picture question in thinking about Kentucky’s kids during their first eight years of life. We have been writing for the last couple of weeks about a recent report, The First Eight Years: Giving Kids a Foundation for a Lifetime of Success, which was co-released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) and Kentucky Youth Advocates on [...]
It’s time to set the record straight on eligibility for the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP). During the month of October, Kentucky Youth Advocates held five focus groups across the state to learn more about the needs of kinship families. During those focus groups, I learned that many of the participants were struggling financially but were not accessing financial assistance through K-TAP due to a belief that they were not eligible. I did some research [...]
