By: Elizabeth Young As an intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates I am new to advocating for policy change. My experience with the juvenile justice system comes from my work with children charged with status offenses. From that vantage point, I can tell you what actual cases look like when children are charged for misbehaviors like skipping school, ignoring rules, or running away from home. There are children charged with truancy because an overworked parent was [...]
Today, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released a new report, “No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration.” The report shows us why incarcerating kids doesn’t work: youth incarceration does not help youth become productive citizens, it does not provide an overall public safety benefit, and it wastes taxpayer dollars. The report also shows that many states have substantially reduced their juvenile correctional facility populations in recent years, and it finds that these [...]
Today, the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children partners introduce the 2012 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children Agenda. The agenda outlines the issues facing Kentucky’s children and families today and describes the policy solutions that have been identified by advocates from across the state to improve child well-being in the Commonwealth. To join the effort to make Kentucky the best place to be kid, sign on to be an official Blueprint Partner today! You can fill out the [...]
The following post by Tara Grieshop-Goodwin, deputy director if KYA, was featured on the Reclaiming Futures blog. To see the original post, visit http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/blog/. Many things make me proud to call Kentucky home – beautiful horses, great college basketball, and friendly people. But behind the rolling hills, the thrilling games, and smiling faces, are several things that raise concern about my great state. Kentucky frequently ranks at the bottom of the pile on health, economic [...]
Often, our work at KYA cuts across sectors. We talk about the juvenile justice system, and we find ourselves taking into account alternative education programs. We talk about health, and we find ourselves talking about larger economic well-being issues (for an example of the latter, you can see our most recent publication on Medicaid Managed Care Programs in Kentucky). The idea of taking two issues hand-in-hand is not a new one. The Robert Wood Johnson [...]
In his August 1 column in Louisville’s Courier-Journal, David Adkisson shared a perspective from the Kentucky Chamber’s follow-up to their 2009 study, the Leaky Bucket, focusing on reforming state spending in Kentucky. The Chamber provides a valuable voice on the issue and certainly represents the business community with real power. Unfortunately, the Chamber’s report is missing the realities of what Kentucky children and families face, particularly in the wake of the recession. While the report [...]
Kentucky Youth Advocates recently signed on to the following letter from the First Focus Campaign for Children, asking President Obama and Congressional Leadership to keep children safe when finalizing a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Simply put, cuts to the children’s budget hurts kids, and only makes a dent in the deficit. We are looking for Kentucky organizations who are also interested in adding their name to the letter! Dear Mr. President and Congressional [...]
We picked a hot time to visit with Kentucky’s Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C, both literally and figuratively.… We spent a lot of time trying not to melt in the heat on our walks between offices, while sensing the intense heat Congress faces to address the current budget crisis. As we waited for each of our meetings to begin, staffers were frantically answering phones trying to keep up with call after call about the debt [...]
My head is spinning after spending an hour yesterday evening on Kentucky Tonight, discussing the federal debt ceiling with three other panelists. As usual, host Bill Goodman did his job masterfully, orchestrating discussions around tough topics in a low-keyed, thoughtful and open manner. (I wish we had more Bill Goodmans on the Sunday news shows and the nightly cable talk shows. Maybe thoughtfulness would replace rhetorical ideology!) None of the conversation really surprised me. Sadly, [...]
Focusing Solely on Spending in State Budget Ignores Realities Facing Kentucky Families Statement by Terry Brooks, Executive Director, Kentucky Youth Advocates “The Kentucky Chamber released a follow-up to their 2009 study, the Leaky Bucket, with an update focusing on reforming state spending in Kentucky. The Chamber provides a valuable voice on the issue and represents the business community with real power. Unfortunately, the Chamber’s report ignores the realities of whatKentucky children and families face, particularly [...]
