Posted by: Dave Newton on October 6, 2012
Yesterday at 6:00 a.m., Central KY KFTC members were awake and out at the Lexington Transit Center to kick off the 36-hour-straight Voter Madness voter registration marathon.
The 48-hour-straight Louisville voter registration marathon started a bit later that day and is about half-way though now.
Watch for blog updates early in the week to see how things went.
Remember - the voter registration deadline is on Tuesday, October 9th.
Posted by: Jennifer Jeffers on October 6, 2012
Last week was our biggest yet in Jefferson County. Thanks to our dedicated members who volunteered, we registered 240 voters! Over a hundred of those registrations came from hitting up grocery stores in the south and west ends of Louisville. As shoppers packed food out, we packed democracy in.
Electoral organizer Beth Bissmeyer shared this story of success not only in numbers, but in spirit:
“Last Tuesday proved to be another good night to go Krogering in Shively; in just a few hours, 28 people registered to vote and several people signed our petition in support of restoring voting rights. For me, the highlight of the evening was a conversation I had with a young woman. When I asked her if she was registered, she said she didn't vote because government doesn't do anything good. We got to talking about issues she cares about including the homeless population, and I told her she could hold her Metro Council representative accountable for local issues, that these people are often at community events and live in the neighborhood. 'I didn't know that I could do that,' she said. You could see that a light bulb just turned on. She started to fill out a registration card and while doing that, she told me about the difficulties her brothers have faced as former felons and how having just a misdemeanor on her file has made finding a good job difficult. I then told her about our work around voting rights and gave her restoration applications for her brothers. While not everyone who tells you they don't vote will experience this kind of turnaround, it's worth a little bit of prodding for the ones who do.”
Posted by: KFTC on October 6, 2012
KFTC’s effort to improve the water quality and thereby protect the health of people in eastern Kentucky took a significant step forward Friday with the filing of a settlement in the Clean Water Act case against the International Coal Group (ICG).
“We know that to create a better future for eastern Kentucky, we have to have water that is safe to drink and a more diverse economy,” said KFTC member Ted Withrow. “This agreement gives us the right, as Kentuckians, to know what’s in our water and to work to restore and maintain its quality.”
Posted by: Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on October 5, 2012
The new Wildnerness Trace chapter of KFTC invites you to join them at the Vice Presidential Debate Festival in Danville on Thursday, October 11, 2012.
KFTC members will be speaking on the issues we work on that are important to the national debate--either because they're being addressed or have been ignored and need to be heard.
If you come to join us for the day, please wear your KFTC t-shirt if you have one, or any bright green shirt. We want to stand out in the crowd!
4:30 pm -- KFTC Speakers at the Speakers' Park
Introduction to KFTC and local organizing -- Wilderness Trace Chapter members
Economic Justice: Tax and Budget Issues -- Dana Beasley Brown
Voting Rights -- Tayna Fogle
Coal & Energy -- Carl Shoupe
Posted by: Dave Newton on October 4, 2012
The voter registration deadline is just a few days away on Tuesday, October 9th.
KFTC chapters across the commonwealth have already registered thousands of voters in recent weeks, but in these last few days, we’ll be pulling out all the stops, registering voters at:
Contact your local KFTC Organizer to see if there are voter registration events in your area this weekend, and come on out and join us!
Or if you can’t do that, at least make sure you and your friends and family are all set to vote.
Posted by: Dave Newton on October 3, 2012
KFTC and Georgetown Sociology Club members registered voters at Georgetown College earlier today, bringing in 51 voter registration in just a little over two hours.
Most conversations focused on letting students know that they have the right to register either using their local campus address or their permanent address back home. In most cases, it's better to vote locally where it's the easiest, but we also helped half a dozen students from Ohio to think through the process of voting absentee back home where it might have a big impact on the presidential election.
Posted by: Carissa Lenfert on October 2, 2012
Get a sneak peek at the talented guest speakers and presenters lined up so far for this year's KFTC Annual Meeting
Posted by: Dave Newton on October 2, 2012
A coalition of student groups including UK KFTC, UK NAACP, and UK Catalyst led a massive voter registration drive today on campus.
Students set up in four locations throuout the University of Kentucky's campus and other students canvassed hallways of several classroom buildings and the Student Center.
In all, they registered 302 people to vote, shattering previous voter registration records for a single day's work.
Posted by: Tanya Turner on October 2, 2012
Since early spring, homeowners in the Harlan County community of Coxton have been contacting local and state officials about land sliding and excessive water runoff threatening their homes. Their continued efforts even landed them on the front page of the Harlan Daily Enterprise in June.
In the investigative report, Coxton resident Floyd Hamblin told the paper, “I first began seeing muddy water coming off the mountain in March. I went up on the mountain myself and I saw a highwall, where you walk around the logging road, and a cut that was made is about 6 or 7 feet high. There was water running off the mountain over the highwall onto the logging road and cutting gaps in the mountainside.”
Posted by: Lisa Abbott on October 2, 2012
KFTC is hiring! Help us spread the word to terrific candidates.
We are accepting applications for 4 community organizer positions. These jobs will be based in Louisville, Bowling Green, Berea, and eastern Kentucky (in either Prestonsburg or Whitesburg). The job description can be found here.
