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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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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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Recognizing Federal Protections for the LGBTQ+ Community

By Jordan Ojile, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates June is recognized nationally as Pride Month, a time to celebrate strides made and remaining work in LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing. There have been several unsuccessful drives in recent years to protect Kentucky’s vulnerable LGBTQ+ youth. Since 2017, Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky has been at the forefront of education, advocacy, and lobbying efforts across the Commonwealth. During the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, the Youth Mental Health Protection [...]

By |2022-06-23T12:40:58-04:00June 23rd, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health|
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Young Kids Are Learning to Regulate Their Emotions — They Should Not Be in the Juvenile Justice System

Children as young as six-years-old have been arrested in the U.S., which remains one of the only countries without a nationally mandated standard for juvenile prosecution. As of May 2022, just under half of states in the U.S. still have no minimum age for prosecuting children.  Six-year-olds are still learning how to regulate their emotions. Throwing a tantrum should not lead to the arrest of a child but should instead be a segue to introducing [...]

By |2022-06-17T00:19:10-04:00June 13th, 2022|Blog, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Being a Child Advocate Beyond the Legislative Session

Summer is here! Now is the time to discuss policies that passed in the 2022 legislative session and brainstorm new priorities for next session, create an advocacy plan around issues that impact your community and/or you, and educate policymakers. As you are getting out there enjoying summer activities, there are many ways to advocate for yourself, family, clients, and your community: Stay informed. Read and research topics of interest and/or topics you want to better [...]

By |2022-07-14T12:58:57-04:00June 7th, 2022|Blog|
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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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New Resource for Supporting Children Who Have a Parent Incarcerated

For immediate release: May 19, 2022 Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org New Resource for Supporting Children Who Have a Parent Incarcerated Guide offers tips, resources, and conversation starters for parents, caregivers, and community members Louisville, KY — Today, Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation released a new guide that offers tips, resources, and conversation starters for parents, caregivers, and caring community members to consider for supporting children who have a parent incarcerated. Through [...]

By |2022-05-19T18:21:50-04:00May 19th, 2022|Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Justice, News Room|
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Guide to Supporting Children Who Have a Parent Incarcerated

At Kentucky Youth Advocates, our vision is to make Kentucky the best place to be young. However, the traumatic experiences of young people who have a parent incarcerated are all too often overlooked or misunderstood. Whether they live with their other parent at home or with a kinship or fictive kin caregiver, the adults in a young person’s life can play a role in supporting their ability to weather the hardships that come with [...]

By |2022-05-19T15:12:38-04:00May 18th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Justice|
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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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