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Panel encourages courageous solutions to economic issues

Ryan Fenwick on March 8, 2017 in Economic Justice, Jefferson County, Racial Justice

University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law featured Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Professor Ariana R. Levinson and Sadiqa Reynolds for a lunch time panel discussion about cooperatives. Dr. Gordon Nembhard is an expert on the history of black-owned cooperatives. Her book, Collective Courage, is a groundbreaking study of the history of African American owned cooperatives. Prof. Levinson is an internationally recognized labor and employment law scholar with a background as a labor lawyer. She has recently published articles on worker and union cooperatives. Sadiqa Reynolds is the first female CEO of the Louisville Urban League. She was previously the Chief for Community Building for Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher. The discussion, with nods to the history of cooperatives, hinged on the possibilities for building a better economy with cooperatives. 

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Big Sandy chapter hosts 8th annual Growing Appalachia conference

Jessie Skaggs on March 8, 2017 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, Big Sandy

On February 25 the KFTC Big Sandy Chapter hosted the 8th annual Growing Appalachia conference. Folks from all across eastern Kentucky gathered at the Hindman Settlement School for a day of workshops on Kentucky wild edibles and medicinals, edible landscapes, saving money and energy through home energy efficiency, better gardening for beginner gardeners, and grafting apple trees. 

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Members Take Stand Against Landfill Expansion

Joe Gallenstein on March 8, 2017 in , Communities Taking Action, Rolling Bluegrass, Climate Justice, , Water Quality

A few months ago the company that runs the Central Kentucky Landfill near Sadieville asked the county for the ability to expand the amount of trash they could take.

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Georgetown Ready for Fairness

Joe Gallenstein on March 7, 2017 in , Rolling Bluegrass, LGBTQ equality

Beginning last October with the inaugural Georgetown Pride festival, members in Scott County have been working with allies like Georgetown Fairness and the Georgetown-Scott County NAACP to gather signatures for a petition asking for a Fairness Ordinance in Georgetown, Kentucky. This petition asked that Georgetown pass an ordinance extending civil rights protections in housing, public accommodation, and employment to include members of the LGBTQ+ community. Allies set and acheived the goal of trying to reach 1,000 signautres by the end of January, and allies delivered their petition to the Georgetown City Council, held a small rally to celebrate the work, and gave comments about the need to pass a Fairness ordinance in Georgetown.

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Reflections from a Grassroots Leader

Cassia Herron on February 21, 2017 in Economic Justice, Jefferson County, Leadership Development, , Racial Justice, , We Are Kentuckians

Jefferson County KFTC member Cassia Herron represented the organization at The Rally to Move Forward in Louisville on January 21, 2017 – one of several local marches that took place across the state in solidarity with the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. KFTC organizer Alicia Hurle sat down with Cassia to learn more about her thoughts on leadership development within KFTC and how she approached having the opportunity to speak to such a large audience at what feels like a historically significant moment. Click here to listen to Cassia's speech. 


Why do you identify yourself as a community organizer?

From a grade school student who rallied my peers to challenge our prejudice teacher to a student at the University of Louisville who worked on improving the conditions on campus for students of color, I have always been a community organizer. It has been a natural position for me as my peers and colleagues have looked to me to represent a particular position or idea, to rally others in support of it and move us collectively toward action to remedy it. I have had the opportunity to receive professional organizing training from union organizers and Highlander Center trainers as well as working with Community Farm Alliance and now KFTC. Of course I’m biased, but I feel these are the best organizers in the south and certainly in Kentucky, and I’m proud to be a product of their great work.

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We Stood For Kentucky

KFTC Staff on February 13, 2017 in Coal and Water, Economic Justice, New Energy and Transition, Voting Rights, featured, , General Assembly

Showing that we are solid as a rock, rooted like a tree and standing strong, hundreds of KFTC members and friends took to the halls of the state capitol on Tuesday to Stand For Kentucky.

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Murray, Paducah actions connect western Kentucky activists

Berry Craig on February 8, 2017 in , Western Kentucky

Close to 100 people showed up on February 7 for a “Paducah Stands for Kentucky” rally.

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Nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. EPA threatens our health and climate

Lisa Abbott on January 17, 2017 in Coal and Water, Enforcement, , Sustainable Energy, Air Quality, , Climate Justice, , coal ash, , Congress, , Fracking, , Power Plants, , Racial Justice, , Water Quality

Among the many fossil-fueled extremists and climate deniers nominated by president-elect Donald Trump to lead key federal agencies, Scott Pruitt stands out as an extreme choice.

 Pruitt, who is originally from Danville, Kentucky, is Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He currently serves as Oklahoma Attorney General where he has focused his political career advancing the interests of industrial agriculture and the fossil fuel industry. Along the way he has benefitted handsomely from their direct political contributions and the support of their political action committees.

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Scott County members attend local MLK Day events

Joe Gallenstein on January 17, 2017 in , Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, Rolling Bluegrass

Members of the Scott County chapter participate in yearly events hosted by the local Georgetown-Scott County NAACP unit to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision and legacy. This included a sold-out breakfast event featuring Wilbur Hackett, a former UK player who was one of the first African American football players at the University of Kentucky.

Members also attended a meet and greet with Dr. Derek King, nephew of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Ed Davis Center before the 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. march in Georgetown. Dr. King was also the featured speaker at the annual program following the march.

The march itself had more than 220 participants, with several groups well represented. Many in attendance were talking about Dr. King’s vision not just of racial equality, but an intersectional vision of social justice that did not leave anyone behind.

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Mapping environmental (in)justice in Kentucky

Lisa Abbott on December 8, 2016 in Coal and Water, Economic Justice, New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, , Community Science & Public Health, , Sustainable Energy, Air Quality, , Climate Justice, , coal ash, , Empower Kentucky, , Power Plants, , Racial Justice

As KFTC members work to design a new, clean energy system for our state, we want principles of environmental justice and health equity to be at the front and center of our process and plan. Developing an Environmental Justice analysis is one important step we are taking to better understand which communities in our state are most affected by pollution, poor health, economic inequality and racial injustice.

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