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Warm and welcoming Morehead adopts fairness ordinance

Annie Adams on December 12, 2013 in , Rowan County, LGBTQ equality

On December 9, Morehead became the sixth city in the Commonwealth to pass legislation to protect the rights of LGBTQ people in their community.

Over the summer, members of the Rowan County KFTC Chapter, in concert with representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, the Kentucky Fairness Coalition and Morehead State University students, began working on strategies to promote fairness legislation. Racehelle Bombe, a Morehead resident, diligently gathered more than 300 signatures in favor of fairness in the past year, while members of the Rowan chapter met individually with city council members to share information regarding statewide movements toward fairness.

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KFTC members speak up for just transition at SOAR Summit

KFTC Staff on December 10, 2013 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, Harlan County, , Perry County, , Rowan County

The conversation about economic transition in eastern Kentucky and Appalachia got a big boost on Monday as more than 1,500 people gathered in Pikeville for the SOAR Summit. Dozens of KFTC members participated, sounding the drumbeat for a just transition in the mountains and distributing ideas and literature with specific suggestions on the principles, process and policies that should guide that transition.

SOAR stands for Shaping Our Appalachian Region, a regional planning process announced in October by Governor Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers. The summit on December 9 in Pikeville was the first step in that process.

But KFTC members have been talking about a just transition for years.

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Eastern Kentucky women lead reproductive health project

Mimi Pickering on December 6, 2013 in Economic Justice, Perry County

In the summer of 2009 a group of young women in Letcher County sat down with Gabriela Alcalde, then director of the Kentucky Health Justice Network, to talk about reproductive health experiences they had growing up and living in east Kentucky. Conversation ranged from the limited sex education offered in school to lack of information and access to reproductive health options to concerns about confidentiality and privacy when visiting local health care providers.  

From that discussion came the East Kentucky Reproductive Health Project, originally a collaboration between Appalshop’s Community Media Initiative and Appalachian Media Institute and the Kentucky Health Justice Network. EKRHP uses peer-produced media and community outreach to give voice and visibility to the reproductive health experiences, concerns and needs of women, especially young women, in Appalachian Kentucky. Short videos on a wide range of reproductive health topics created by AMI Correspondents (young woman trained through EKRHP) are posted on www.ekrhp.org along with discussion guides, detailed information on our bodies, and an extensive listing of resources regionally and nationally. EKRHP also has an active Facebook page. Like us!

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A day many have been waiting for comes January 1st!

Greg Sturgill on December 6, 2013 in Economic Justice, Harlan County
Greg Sturgill lives in Lynch, Ky and is active with the Harlan County KFTC Chapter. He has served as a registered nurse for 23 years and wrote this after reading Cara Stewart's article on Kynect and the Affordable Care Act in a recent edition of Balacing the Scales.

With January first rapidly approaching, I look forward to a battle that has been very near and dear to my heart coming to a satisfactory resolution.  Effective January 1st, under the Affordable Healthcare Act, not only can practically every American receive much-needed healthcare, no longer can they be discriminated against with minimal or non-coverage due to pre-existing health conditions, regardless of whether or not they had previous coverage.  It’s a day many hard working Americans, rich, poor or middle-class have been waiting, in some cases, their whole working lives for!

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Eminent domain use for hazardous liquids pipeline challenged

KFTC on December 5, 2013 in , Proposed Bluegrass Pipeline

The claim by developers of a proposed hazardous liquids pipeline that they have the power of eminent domain was challenged today in Franklin Circuit Court.

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KFTC offers principles and policies for shaping eastern Kentucky’s future

KFTC on December 3, 2013 in New Energy and Transition, Just Transition, Big Sandy, , Harlan County, , Perry County, , Rowan County

Hopeful about the future, some eastern Kentucky residents have offered suggestions for principles, process and policies to guide future development in the region.

Offered in an open letter to Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep Hal Rogers, the KFTC members acknowledged, “It won’t be easy, but we believe we can build a bright future here in the mountains.

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13th District Special Election Next Tuesday!

Beth Howard on December 3, 2013 in , Central Kentucky, Voter Empowerment

There is a special legislative election coming up in one week on Tuesday, December 10th for the 13th Senate District covering a large section of Fayette County.


We've sent surveys out to the candidates so that we can communicate their answers out far and wide and they're now online at KentuckyElection.org There are also links to candidate sites, voting location information, and more.  So please share this link with people you know in the district.

We're also sending a mass mailing to voters in the district plus phone banks, and social media work to reach thousands of voters and help them cast an informed vote. 

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Pipeline risks desribed to EQC

KFTC on November 27, 2013 in , Proposed Bluegrass Pipeline, Water Quality

Members of the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission got a detailed lesson about the dangers and shortcomings of the proposed

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Shelby County KFTC members call on REC to pass a Member's Bill of Rights

Lisa Aug on November 26, 2013 in New Energy and Transition, Energy Democracy, Shelby County

Shelby KFTC members addressed the Shelby Energy Rural Electric Co-op Board of Directors Nov. 25 and asked them to adopt a Members Board of Rights that guarantees fair elections, open meetings and open records.

Although the board members did not respond to the request, Shelby KFTC members felt they made a positive impression on the Board.

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"They listened attentively but didn't ask a single question," Patrick King, a Shelby Energy member/owner said, noting that the board has had copies of the proposed Members Bill of Rights for more than a year. "The overall impression was not negative. I think we caught their attention in a couple places. I believe they were listening."

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Power Builder Program helps members recruit and raise money

Elizabeth Adami on November 25, 2013 in , Fundraiser

As the Development Intern, I had the opportunity to spend some time working behind the scenes on launching the Power Builder’s website. However, I only recently decided to get the full experience by creating and promoting my own page.

The process of setting up a Powerbuilder site was super-easy, and there was no shortage of resources available for adding information, pictures, and videos to my page.

What was more challenging, as someone who has only been involved with KFTC for a few months, was creating a message that I wanted to share with my friends and family about why the organization means so much to me- and why it should matter to them, too.

I looked through each of the amazing pages already up and running for inspiration, and found it in spades.

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