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Celebrating the 2023 Champions for Children

Elected leaders and advocates step up for Kentucky kids in countless ways every day, especially in Frankfort throughout the legislative session. During Children’s Advocacy Week, Kentucky Youth Advocates and partners in the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children present Champion for Children awards to honor those state leaders, advocates, and young people for their efforts. At this year’s Rally for Kentucky Kids, we honored the following community leaders and young people with Champion for Children awards for their advocacy [...]

By |2023-02-16T11:08:47-05:00February 16th, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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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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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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Wins for Kids in the New Federal Omnibus Budget

While kids across Kentucky were waiting for Santa to deliver gifts, Congress delivered a major win for kids and families through the omnibus federal budget for fiscal year 2023. From addressing summer hunger and child care affordability to expanding access to programs such as home visiting, this budget makes some major investments in Kentucky kids and families: Addresses summer hunger by creating a permanent Summer EBT program and loosens the congregate feeding requirements for meals [...]

By |2023-01-03T12:45:34-05:00January 3rd, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Medicaid, Youth Justice|
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Launching the 2023 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children Policy Agenda

Each year, Kentucky Youth Advocates releases the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children policy agenda featuring the lead priorities for kids and families. For 2023, the Blueprint priorities focus on strengthening systems and policies to advance equity and uplift every Kentucky family. The Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children is a coalition of non-profit, public, and private organizations that stands on three pillars: thriving communities launch strong families, strong families launch successful kids, and successful kids launch a prosperous [...]

By |2023-02-01T16:19:19-05:00January 3rd, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Early Childhood Education Task Force 2022 Findings & Recommendations

Kentucky’s Early Childhood Education Task Force has been meeting diligently since June to obtain a greater understanding of Kentucky’s child care resources and how the state can better support that infrastructure to assist families and local businesses. On November 21st, the committee formally presented its findings and recommendations for the rest of Kentucky’s General Assembly.   Among its findings, the committee identified that Kentucky does not have enough child care available for all working families and [...]

By |2022-12-15T16:13:29-05:00December 15th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|
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Bloom Community Spotlight: Early Childhood Education and Understanding ACEs

To help prevent and mitigate childhood adversity, many on-the-ground community partners are hard at work providing needed resources and support to Kentucky kids and families. The Bloom Community Spotlight blog series highlights the important work being done by Bloom Kentucky community partners throughout the Commonwealth. This month, Bloom Kentucky reached out to child advocate, Phoenix Peeler, to share their insight of years working with youth. Phoenix Peeler, Care and Education Coach For over 25 years, [...]

By |2022-12-07T17:06:23-05:00December 7th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Education|
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OP-ED: Kentucky youth say ‘Listen to us!’ — and hear us about decisions made about our futures

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the NKY Tribune on November 23, 2022. By Jordan Joslin, Kori Wheeler, and Kirsten Yancy As the November midterm elections have come to a close, Kentuckians are now looking ahead to the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly and Governor's race. Voters will make their way to the polls next November, and we – Kentucky's youth – are relying on those same voters to keep us top of mind when casting [...]

By |2023-01-24T15:07:53-05:00November 28th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health, Kids Count, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Kids Can’t Wait: Federal Nutrition Needs

As families across Kentucky are preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, schools are preparing for how they are going to feed kids next summer and school year. With 1 in 6 Kentucky kids experiencing hunger, the in-school and summer meals schools serve are more important than ever. However, without Congress taking quick action to extend federal COVID-19 era programs and waivers, many schools will not be able to continue operating these programs and many Kentucky families will [...]

By |2022-11-21T15:47:40-05:00November 21st, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health|
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