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A Look at the New Early Childhood Education Task Force

The 2022 legislative session has ended, and now Kentucky’s lawmakers are dedicating their time to interim meetings in order to learn more about issues pressing the Commonwealth. This year a new committee has been added specifically to look at Kentucky’s early care and education systems – the Early Childhood Education Task Force is chaired by Senator Danny Carroll from Paducah and Representative Samara Heavrin from Leitchfield. They are joined by Senators Wil Schroder, Reginald Thomas, [...]

By |2022-07-06T16:14:24-04:00July 6th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Race Equity|
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Keep Kids Fed Act

At the start of the pandemic, Congress acted quickly to ensure schools and nonprofits had the tools and flexibilities needed to keep kids fed. Waivers like the congregate feeding waiver have allowed schools in rural Kentucky to deliver meals directly to kids, while higher reimbursement rates have helped schools and child care centers weather staffing and supply chain challenges.  Last week, Congress once again acted quickly to ensure that these flexibilities and higher reimbursements were [...]

By |2022-06-30T16:58:48-04:00June 30th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Health|
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Reflections from the 2022 KY Commission on Race & Access to Opportunity

Read about the November 2021 meeting of the Commission on Race and Opportunity here.  Following the 2021 General Assembly, SB 10, co-sponsored by Senator Givens, Senator Whitney Westerfield, and Senate President Robert Stivers, became law and established the Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity. The group is tasked with studying and researching issues where disparities may exist across various sectors to determine areas of improvement and to provide services and opportunities for communities of [...]

By |2022-06-30T12:08:31-04:00June 30th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Filling the Summer Meal Gap for Families

Summer should be a stress free time where kids get to relax. However, for nearly 1 in 5 kids across the Commonwealth summer is often the hungriest time of the year. The loss of free school meals and rising grocery costs means that families spend more on groceries in the summer, stretching already tight budgets and leaving kids at risk of missing meals.  To help fill this summer meal gap, there are several programs available to [...]

By |2022-06-09T13:44:01-04:00June 9th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health|
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OP-ED: Wrapping around our foster care alumni experiencing homelessness

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Herald Leader on May 27, 2022. By Tia Humphrey, Lynn Rippy, and Nikki Thornton 1 in 3. 1 in 3 young adults with a foster care experience face housing instability in Kentucky. That’s 1 in 3 young people with their livelihood and potential hanging by a thread, despite resources readily available. How did these young people get to the point of homelessness? In Kentucky, there are [...]

By |2022-05-31T16:59:08-04:00May 31st, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|
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OP-ED: Let’s create more caring communities when it comes to mental health

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Messenger-Inquirer on May 25, 2022. By Barry Allen and the Bloom Kentucky Advisory Council “What’s wrong with you?” If you have struggled emotionally in public or amongst family or friends, you may have been asked this question. Maybe you’ve snapped at your child after losing your patience in the cereal aisle of the grocery store and a stranger gives you that questioning look. Or perhaps you’ve asked this [...]

By |2022-05-26T09:43:52-04:00May 26th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Race Equity|
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Understanding the Child Care Staffing Crisis

The child care industry has suffered huge financial obstacles during the past two years. The Center for Disease Control asked child care programs to increase their health and safety requirements in a way that required additional staff to serve the same amount of children. COVID-19 outbreaks caused programs to shutdown classrooms, or even the entire program, for weeks at a time causing significant losses in revenue. Despite all these financial obstacles, they are still secondary [...]

By |2022-05-20T11:45:39-04:00May 20th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|
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Updates on K-TAP & the Kentucky WORKS Program

Every parent knows that raising kids can be expensive, and access to cash is essential to help families thrive and weather emergencies. The Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) provides cash support to low-income Kentucky families alongside the training and education necessary to get a better job.   New research shows that children whose parents receive cash support, like the support provided through K-TAP, were more likely to have faster brain activity. Faster brain activity is associated [...]

By |2022-05-18T16:59:49-04:00May 18th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security|
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Bloom Kentucky Called Upon Legislators to Address ACEs – Did They Answer?

As we reflect on the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, this year’s legislative session was certainly a mixed bag. From debates on local control vs. big government to the infiltration of national lobbying groups, it seems as though we might have been left with more questions than answers. The good news, however, is that Kentucky’s policymakers found common ground when it came to Kentucky kids and families and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). We [...]

By |2022-05-12T12:32:23-04:00May 12th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice|
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Update: P-EBT for 2021-22 School Year

View this blog post for an update on 2022-2023 Pandemic-EBT supports for Kentucky students. Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) has been one of the most vital supports for children and families throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, providing grocery money to families who would have usually received free and reduced school meals. We are excited to share that Kentucky has received final federal approval for P-EBT benefits for the 2021-2022 school year. This round of benefits will be [...]

By |2023-07-12T11:49:25-04:00May 3rd, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|
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