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Youth Voice: “Find your passion! Use your voice! Vote for Kentucky Kids!”

By Aleah Stigall, former member of the Health Youth Ambassadors Aleah shared the following speech as the opening of the 2026 Town Hall on Kids in the Capitol Education Center at the annual Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol. Welcome to this year’s Children’s Advocacy Day Town Hall on Kids! I am Aleah Stigall, a senior at Boyle County High School. From a young age, I was raised to advocate for myself, especially as a [...]

By |2026-03-18T16:49:09-04:00March 5th, 2026|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Health|
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Children’s Advocacy Week 2025 Reflections from Youth

Imagine the halls of Kentucky’s Capitol buzzing with the energy of hundreds of young voices all united for a single purpose. On March 5th, 2025, Frankfort witnessed this powerful scene as young advocates from across the Commonwealth convened for Kentucky Youth Advocates’ annual Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol – their participation throughout Children’s Advocacy Week 2025. However, the excitement didn’t start there. On the eve of Children’s Advocacy Day, we hosted a retreat [...]

By |2025-03-21T11:02:53-04:00March 20th, 2025|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|
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Youth Voices Leading the Charge: Insights from Substance Use Prevention Focus Groups

Last fall, Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA), through the Bloom Kentucky initiative, conducted six focus groups across the Commonwealth to elevate youth perspectives in shaping the Attorney General’s youth substance use prevention campaign, “Better Without It”. With participation from 70 middle and high school students, we engaged young people from Mayfield, Springfield, Louisville, Hazard, and Covington, while a virtual focus group connected youth from Shelby, Warren, Taylor, and Boyle Counties. These conversations—held both in-person and virtually—provided [...]

By |2025-03-13T16:03:10-04:00March 13th, 2025|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Education, Health|
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Youth Voice: “Our voices matter today and every day.”

By Zach Crouch, member for the Health Youth Ambassadors Zach shared the following speech as the opening of the 2025 Rally for Kentucky Kids in the Rotunda at the annual Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol.  Welcome to our 2025 Children’s Advocacy Day! My name is Zachary Crouch. Words can not describe how it makes me feel to see this Rotunda packed full of youth advocates and many elected officials joining today. Thank you, Governor [...]

By |2025-03-21T11:10:08-04:00March 6th, 2025|Blog, Education, Health|
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Governor Beshear, House and Senate Leadership Join Hundreds of Youth and Advocates for Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol 2025

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org FRANKFORT, KY – Hundreds of child advocates are convening this week for Children’s Advocacy Week, urging elected leaders to support the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children, a unified policy agenda focused on creating brighter futures for all Kentucky kids and families. Today is Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol, where community organizations, professionals who work with kids and families, and young people from across the Commonwealth gather in Frankfort to meet with their legislators, attend committee [...]

By |2025-03-04T20:33:42-05:00March 5th, 2025|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, News Room, Youth Justice|
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Messages from Kentucky’s Young People: Positive Experiences in Action

If we want to make Kentucky the best place to be young, we need to create a Kentucky where kids have an abundance of Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). In the 2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book, Kentucky Youth Advocates not only shares the latest statewide and county-level data on child well-being, we also dive into the disproportionate impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on Kentucky kids, progress on efforts to mitigate those impacts, and the power [...]

By |2024-11-20T14:48:53-05:00November 20th, 2024|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Education, Health|
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2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book: A Look at Child Well-Being Data Trends and Mitigating Adverse Childhood Experiences

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org 2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book: A Look at Child Well-Being Data Trends and Mitigating Adverse Childhood Experiences Featuring the latest county-level data for key measures of child health, education, economic security, and family and community Louisville, KY – The 2024 Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book, released today by Kentucky Youth Advocates, features the latest data on 16 measures of child well-being, showing whether outcomes for children across the Commonwealth have improved, worsened, [...]

By |2024-11-20T08:26:32-05:00November 20th, 2024|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Kids Count, News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Health Youth Ambassadors 2024 Onboarding Retreat

Kentucky Youth Advocates is proud to announce our 2024-2025 Health Youth Ambassadors! These high school students from around the Commonwealth are eager to make positive changes in their communities and throughout the state. This year’s cohort of high school students includes two Freshman, four Sophomores, six Juniors, and three Seniors with representation from Boyle, Edmonson, Graves, Jefferson, Johnson, Madison, Shelby, Taylor, and Warren Counties. The Health Youth Ambassadors (HYA) program is a statewide cohort [...]

By |2024-08-14T15:09:53-04:00August 14th, 2024|Blog, Education, Health, Kids Count|
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Bloom Kentucky: Youth Engage with Attorney General on Substance Use Prevention Efforts

As Bloom Kentucky continues to look for ways to improve and expand opioid prevention efforts across the state, we recently partnered with the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General (KYOAG) so that Attorney General Russell Coleman and leaders of the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission could hear from students directly. In the halls of the State Capitol, 15 students from six counties in every corner of the state convened to provide valuable insights and bring [...]

By |2024-06-21T09:04:38-04:00June 20th, 2024|Blog, Bloom Kentucky|
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Unleash Your Advocacy Potential: Join the Movement with Health Youth Ambassadors!

As the temperature rises, so does our anticipation for the 2024-2025 Health Youth Ambassadors program! Are you a high school student eager to cultivate your advocacy and leadership skills? Do you envision yourself as a catalyst for positive change within your community and beyond? If the answer is yes, then seize this opportunity to become a Health Youth Ambassador with Kentucky Youth Advocates! The Health Youth Ambassadors (HYA) program is designed to empower youth [...]

By |2024-05-06T13:50:07-04:00May 6th, 2024|Blog, Health|
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