Jefferson County Chapter meeting reportback

 This Monday marked the Jefferson County chapter’s first meeting to include the new facilitation style agreed upon by our (also new) Chapter Development Work Team. We’re off to a great start! We began by introducing ourselves, laying out ground rules – such as “step forward, step back” – reading our mission statement, and reviewing our agenda.

Housing presentation

Curtis Stauffer, a KFTC member and representative from the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, appeared as our community guest for the evening, presenting on the current campaign in favor of fair housing in Louisville. Fair Housing laws, though they’ve existed in Louisville since 1968, still do not address our rampant segregation based on race, class, and marital status. This is largely, as Stauffer emphasized, due to the concept of Euclidean Zoning. Euclidean Zoning allows for lots of land to be divided based on their intended use or type (for instance, single and multi-family households are more often than not segregated to certain parts of the city, usually based on the average income of the area). This herds the disenfranchised into concentrated sections of town. Add to this the poor energy efficiency in houses built before 1980, discrimination in loans to people of color and young people in debt, and increasing foreclosures, and you have Louisville’s housing crisis in a nutshell.

So how does MHC propose to fix these problems? First, they suggest an increase in funding for the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund. They hope to lend their support for more opportunities for multi-family housing and smaller, cheaper lot sizes, and to further educate current and future homeowners about liens in order to protect owners at risk. In April, they will be releasing a publication on Fair Housing, which you can contribute your story or thoughts to at [email protected].

Finally, you can check out these future events & opportunities:

• Attend the Metro Council hearing on the Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund March 14, 6 p.m.

• Attend the Metro Action Plan hearing, March 19, 6 p.m. at Mayor’s Gallery

• Sign up for the email list for the Louisville Vacant Properties Campaign

• Sign up for MHC’s newsletter & email alert list

• Attend MCH’s Fair Housing Coalition Fair Housing Month Forum, April 12, 12 p.m. at Spalding University (Topic: Housing Barriers Facing Persons with Mental Illness)

• Attend the “Get on the Bus Tour,” April 23, 12:30 p.m. at KY Center for African American Heritage.

KFTC has a history of supporting our brother & sister organizations throughout the commonwealth, and MCH is of particular relevance to our platform. If your organization is interested in speaking at one of our chapter meetings, please contact Alicia Hurle. 

Other chapter business

Our meeting then moved to our committee and legislative updates. Shekinah Lavalle, our Steering Committee representative, spoke of the current conversation pervading the 2014 statewide elections, and the role KFTC will have in educating and empowering voters. The consensus of the meeting leaned toward a lifting up positive messages and the importance of long-term goals rather than the current political climate. Alicia updated the chapter on the status of KFTC's bills (see our online bill tracker here).

Our chapter then discussed our previous support of the Local Coal Ash Campaign currently run by the Sierra Club of Louisville. Member Jacob Stoebel reports that, with their funding disappearing, Sierra Club will soon need aid with infrastructure and campaigning against the Mill Creek Plant. We moved to form a work team in support of the campaign. 

The meeting ended with general announcements and a discussion about strategy and effective membership targeting. Attention was drawn to the issue of payday lending and KFTC’s current stance and action regarding it. A member suggested that, before each chapter meeting, we hold a 15-minute orientation for new members. We then held sign-ups for tabling opportunities (the Buy Local Fair in May, Earth Day Hoot in April) and the Compassionate Louisville Dinner on Wednesday March 20^th. Those interested, or with any questions, should RSVP to Alicia Hurle.