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“Your voices are the ones that matter. Your stories are the ones that need to be heard.”

Tamara Vest shared the following speech at the 2023 Children's Advocacy Week Rally for Kentucky Kids at the Capitol. It's not everyday that our citizens, representatives from the General Assembly, and our Governor are able to gather in the Capitol building to celebrate each other and call upon each other, and rely on one another to do the work that it takes to make the commonwealth a place where kids and families can be just [...]

By |2023-02-09T12:57:02-05:00February 9th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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Governor Beshear and Senator Raque Adams Join Hundreds of Youth and Advocates for Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol

Louisville, KY – Hundreds of youth advocates from across Kentucky are convening this week for Children’s Advocacy Week. They are urging elected leaders to support the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children, a unified agenda for child advocates across the Commonwealth. Today, youth, state leaders, and advocates gathered in the Capitol Rotunda for the Rally for Kentucky Kids – the first in-person rally with child advocates since January 2020. “Each year, Children’s Advocacy Week is a time for youth, parents, social workers, [...]

By |2023-02-09T11:33:14-05:00February 8th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Efforts to Improve Kentuckians’ Ability to Find Safe, Stable Housing

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 or homelessness, seriously impacting their long term economic, food, and housing security. This is especially true for families of color, who [...]

By |2023-02-02T16:12:12-05:00February 2nd, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Race Equity|
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OP-ED: Grandparents need Kentucky legislature to increase KTAP support

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Kentucky Lantern and Herald Leader on January 31, 2023. By Norma Hatfield Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Lantern Robert F. Kennedy said, “The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” For the children of Kentucky, we certainly have our work cut out for us. For several years, Kentucky was #1 in child abuse and neglect. Right now, we’re [...]

By |2023-02-01T17:22:26-05:00February 1st, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|
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OP-ED: Former foster kids like us need resources to successfully transition into adulthood

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Courier Journal on January 27, 2023. By Tamara Vest, Eltuan Dawson, Cynthia Schepers, and Felicity Therese Krueger Current and former foster youth need both tangible and intangible resources to successfully transition into adulthood. Tangible supports are programs and services that provide a resource or assistance for young people such as financial support, housing assistance and educational opportunities. Intangible resources include those trusting adults, mentors, peers and even [...]

By |2023-02-03T10:59:51-05:00January 30th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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Over Incarceration of Youth is Not the Answer

Photo courtesy of The Sentencing Project While historically an area of common ground focused on community safety, accountability, and right-sizing responses for youth who get in trouble, the juvenile justice system has been experiencing an array of issues in the state of Kentucky recently. Despite overwhelming data to show youth offenses - including violent offenses - remain much lower than in years past and, in response to current safety issues in juvenile detention [...]

By |2023-01-25T15:03:14-05:00January 25th, 2023|Blog, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Bloom Kentucky Announces 2023 State Policy Priorities

On your mark… Get set… GO! The 2023 Kentucky General Assembly is underway, and advocates from across the Commonwealth are sprinting into action to help improve outcomes for kids and families. Bloom Kentucky recently released its 2023 state policy priorities to help advocates in their race to the finish line.  Bloom Kentucky is a collaborative initiative of grantmaking organizations from across the Commonwealth focused on statewide policy changes and budget investments that aim to prevent [...]

By |2023-01-25T14:17:03-05:00January 25th, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky|
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Casey Funds Career Opportunities for Young People With Justice System Experience

This blog was originally posted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has award­ed three $100,000 grants to help cre­ate paid posi­tions for emerg­ing pro­fes­sion­als with juve­nile jus­tice experience. Three youth jus­tice orga­ni­za­tions will receive one grant each. They are: the Cen­ter for Juve­nile Jus­tice Reform at George­town Uni­ver­si­ty in Wash­ing­ton, D.C.; Impact Jus­tice in Oak­land, Cal­i­for­nia; and Ken­tucky Youth Advo­cates in Louisville, Kentucky. As part of the solic­i­ta­tion and selec­tion process, Casey part­nered with [...]

By |2023-01-23T17:59:52-05:00January 23rd, 2023|Blog, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Ending the Youth Vaping Crisis: A Plea from Schools

We've heard the stats – more than 1 in 4 Kentucky 12th graders and 1 in 5 10th graders report vaping in the past year. Yet the reality is, that is likely a severe undercount of the vaping crisis that is plaguing our schools based on firsthand experience from teachers, administrators, and students themselves. Addressing the issue early on reduces the likelihood that youth will begin using products containing nicotine and become addicted. In fact, [...]

By |2023-01-18T15:08:25-05:00January 18th, 2023|Blog, Education, Health|
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Statement on Governor Beshear’s 2023 State of the Commonwealth Address

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – In his far-ranging State of the Commonwealth Address, the Governor raised some key issues related to the well-being of Kentucky’s kids – from health to education to community safety to workforce. As well as the ongoing impacts of crises that Kentucky's kids have lived through across the Commonwealth – from natural disasters to a global pandemic. First, [...]

By |2023-01-04T20:40:21-05:00January 4th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, News Room, Youth Justice|
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