Contact: Andrea Bennett abennett@kyyouth.org 502-381-1176 Today, we applaud the Kentucky House for passing a budget that is a win for kids. The House budget protects several investments for kids that were originally proposed in Governor Beshear's budget. Of upmost priority is the funding protected in the House budget to restore the Child Care Assistance Program to 150% of the federal poverty level. This funding will help stop the detrimental effects that are occurring as a [...]

Contact: Andrea Bennett abennett@kyyouth.org 502-381-1176 Today's passage of SB 200 by the Senate Judiciary Committee begins the important process of fundamental reform of juvenile justice in the Commonwealth with changes that will mean better outcomes for kids and for public safety. Specifically, this bill emphasizes investing limited state dollars in community-based programs that are more effective at getting youth back on track. It also makes great strides towards reserving costly incarceration and other placements out [...]

Jeffersontown, KY - Today the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee passed the House budget bill (HB 235), meaning we are one step closer to restoring the harmful cuts to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) that occurred last year.  The Committee included restored CCAP funding to 2012 levels in the House budget which provides money to return eligibility to 150% of the federal poverty level. The House Budget bill will now go to the full House for a [...]

Jeffersontown, KY - Thousands of Kentucky families and communities could see immediate and long term benefits with the passage of SB 155, introduced today by Senator Morgan McGarvey. SB 155 would enact a state Earned Income Credit (EIC). Kentucky would be the 25th state to have a state EIC with the passage of this bill. SB 155 would piggyback on the federal EIC, which is one of the most effective programs at lifting children and families out of [...]

Importance of Restored Child Care Assistance Program Funding to 150% of Poverty in House Budget Jeffersontown, KY - Today's hearing reminded us that the need for restored Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) supports is about hard numbers but also about very real stories.  We know that child care assistance is a win for kids, a win for families, a win for local communities, and a win for the state budget in the long-term.  In hearing the real-life [...]

Today's data release about kindergarten readiness is good news for kids in the Commonwealth. The new kindergarten readiness screening tool will help our state assess where Kentucky kids stand and how to improve to ensure all kids are prepared for kindergarten. Given this week's KIDS COUNT release from the Annie E. Casey Foundation on early reading proficiency, kindergarten readiness is a clear predicate to increasing the level of reading and, especially, to closing the growing achievement gap [...]

Contact: Andrea Bennett 502-381-1176 abennett@kyyouth.org Jeffersontown, KY - A new KIDS COUNT® data snapshot, co-released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Kentucky Youth Advocates, finds that a large majority of children in Kentucky are not reading proficiently by the time they reach fourth grade - a key predictor of a student’s future educational and economic success. While Kentucky has made progress in education, the state must accelerate improvement in reading proficiency to have enough skilled workers [...]