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Study Reveals Gaps in Behavioral Health Services for Louisville’s Vulnerable Youth

Study Reveals Gaps in Behavioral Health Services for Louisville’s Vulnerable Youth Kentucky Youth Advocates and Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence Lead Collaborative Effort to Identify Solutions and Address Barriers   CONTACT: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org LOUISVILLE, KY – Kentucky Youth Advocates, in partnership with the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence, conducted 10 virtual focus groups and disseminated an online survey to learn more about behavioral health supports and services available to youth in Louisville, along with [...]

By |2021-03-30T11:56:04-04:00March 30th, 2021|Child Welfare & Safety, Education, Health, News Room, Race Equity|
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Statement on the Governor Signing Senate Bill 84 Into Law

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org LOUISVILLE, KY – With passage of Senate Bill 133 of 2018, the Kentucky General Assembly became the first state in the country to pass the “Dignity Bill,” a piece of legislation specifically tailored toward improving conditions for women who are incarcerated. This year, the legislature re-emphasized their commitment to the issue by unanimously supporting passage of Senate Bill 84, known as the “Dignity Bill 2.0,” sponsored by Senator Julie Raque Adams. And [...]

By |2021-03-23T15:00:13-04:00March 23rd, 2021|Justice, News Room, Race Equity|
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Statement on Passage of Senate Bill 36 by the Kentucky House

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – Today’s passage of Senate Bill 36, via another bill, by the Kentucky House advances the commonwealth one step closer to a more effective and equitable juvenile justice system. SB 36, sponsored by Senator Whitney Westerfield, seeks to expand court discretion when determining the transfer of youth to adult court for certain offenses – a pragmatic move that will [...]

By |2021-03-16T16:41:05-04:00March 16th, 2021|News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Statement on Passage of Senate Bill 36 by the House Judiciary Committee

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – With today’s passage of Senate Bill 36 by the House Judiciary Committee, Kentucky is one step closer to a more efficient and effective juvenile justice system that holds kids accountable, helps them grow up to become contributing members of their community, and increases public safety. SB 36, sponsored by Senator Whitney Westerfield, seeks to expand court discretion [...]

By |2021-03-03T12:12:12-05:00March 3rd, 2021|News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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2021 Bills to Watch that Seek to Advance Race Equity for Kids

As our commonwealth works to overcome the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and systemic racism, Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children have a common vision of a brighter future for every Kentucky kid and their family. We are counting on legislative leaders to prioritize policies that advance race equity and address systemic racism in the current and future legislative sessions. We previously shared our commitment to ensure all policies within the 2021 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children policy agenda [...]

By |2021-02-18T14:26:41-05:00February 18th, 2021|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Thank You to Our 2020 Census Champions Awardees

We love giving awards to decision makers who have stepped up for kids. This year during Children's Advocacy Week, in addition to the usual Champions for Children awards given to legislators who prioritized kids during last year’s General Assembly, we also gave 2020 Census Champions awards to those in state government who went above and beyond to promote a fair and complete 2020 Census count of the commonwealth. Going into 2020, I thought the [...]

By |2021-02-16T15:21:05-05:00February 16th, 2021|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Kids Count, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Gov. Beshear and Leadership from the Kentucky House and Senate Join Hundreds of Youth and Advocates for Virtual Rally for Kentucky Kids

CONTACT: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Louisville, KY – Hundreds of youth advocates from across Kentucky are virtually 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 state. Today, in place of the gathering in the Capitol Rotunda, advocates and state leaders tuned into the first virtual Rally for Kentucky Kids. "Today, youth, social workers, faith leaders, teachers, pediatricians, child care providers, community leaders, [...]

By |2021-02-02T11:01:06-05:00February 2nd, 2021|Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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OP-ED: Synergy Can Be a Game Changer in Frankfort for Kentucky Kids

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in The Courier Journal on January 15, 2021. Oxpeckers and zebras. Oxpeckers are small African birds which count on zebras as their key nutritional sources, eating the ticks that cluster on zebras. And zebras? Well, they depend on oxpeckers as pest control agents. The oxpeckers also make a hissing sound whenever they sense a threat, acting as the zebras’ early warning security system to escape to safer locales [...]

By |2021-01-15T13:26:08-05:00January 15th, 2021|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Medicaid, Race Equity|
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2021 State Budget Update and Call to Action

The legislature has been in session since January 5th and during this time the Governor has shared his budget proposal and the Kentucky House of Representatives filed a continuation version of the budget to expedite the process within this short legislative session. A continuation budget is exactly what it sounds like – how can we maintain, or continue, the state budget that was developed in 2020 into 2021. The Kentucky House and Senate have both [...]

By |2021-01-14T18:40:16-05:00January 14th, 2021|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Medicaid, Race Equity|
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Statement on Kentucky Senate Passage of State Budget Proposal

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – As the Kentucky General Assembly concludes part one of this short legislative session, the Senate has passed the continuation budget proposal. While the process is advancing swiftly, we are encouraged that this action means leaders in the House and Senate and the Governor can begin negotiations that will ultimately lead to that priority and value proposal that supports [...]

By |2021-01-13T15:26:17-05:00January 13th, 2021|Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Medicaid, News Room, Race Equity|
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