Jefferson County | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Chapter: Jefferson County

 

Since the chapter formed in 1983, we have supported and worked with allies on issues that affect you and me, including affordable housing, police abuse, sweat shops, hazardous waste reduction and recycling. Our doors are open to anyone who wants to fight for justice while building a compassionate, connected, and fun community here in our great city. With over 2,500 KFTC members across the County, JCKFTC is an anchor chapter of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth. The chapter focuses on three issues: Education Justice, Energy and Climate Justice, and democracy Justice. 

  • You can find JCKFTC members agitating and lobbying the local school board, rallying for trans students, traveling to Capiltal to lobby and rally for education bills that support students, and creating strategies to save education in Kentucky. 
  • RSVP here for KFTC's Education Justice Lobby Day & Rally at the Capital on Tuesday, February 4, 2025
  • RSVP here for KFTC's monthly virtual Statewide Education Justice meetings.
  • Share your voice by taking our digital Education Justice Survey by October 31, 2024.

  • In addition to being part of the Just Transition Coalition, the Jefferson County chapter also has a robust Energy & Climate Justice working group that meets monthly on the 4th Wednesday from 7 - 8 pm EDT. You can RSVP here for our monthly Energy & Climate Justice working group here:

  • JCKFTC members register voters across the County, including at places like Actor’s Theatre, Simmon’s Freedom School, Sarabande Books’ Annual Poetry Carnival, Carmichael’s Bookstore, and more. 


From schools to houses of faith to recovery centers, JCKFTC offers training and presentations on all of our issues. Some of the most requested trainings and presentations are on voting rights restoration, political education, voter registration training, the state of education justice, arts and activism at the intersection of climate and energy justice, and organizing for change. Email us today to begin a conversation about bringing a training or presentation to your group.

You’ll be able to find KFTC’s quarterly newspaper, Balancing The Scales, at various locations, including multiple Heine Brothers Coffee locations, the Old Louisville Coffee Co-Op, Elderserve, Goodwill, the Bishop’s Table, and more. JCKFTC members enjoy reading Balancing The Scales and contributing to the publication. You can find JCKFTC members’ Balancing The Scales articles on the KFTC Blog. 


Each 2nd Monday of the month, from 5 - 7:30 pm, JCKFTC hosts a Chapter Meeting - all are welcome and invited. We begin by sharing a meal & networking for an hour, then spend the remaining 90 minutes discussing our ongoing work & strategizing for a future where all Kentuckians can thrive. We have an average attendance of about 45 - 50 people. This is a life-changing family-friendly event. You can RSVP for a monthly chapter meeting with us here. 

We offer POWER 101, an in-person intro to organizing for change course. This two-hour organizing course covers The Transition Zone, Powerful Questions, the Accountability Pathway, and more. The chapter plans to pilot a virtual option to POWER 101 in early 2025.  
 

You can find all things JCKFTC on our LinkTree.

Recent Activities

Jefferson County Chapter meeting reportback

Emily Nordling on March 14, 2013 in Economic Justice, Jefferson County

 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.

Voting Rights Meeting and Action!

Dave Newton on February 4, 2013 in Voting Rights, Kentucky Voting Rights Bill, Jefferson County, General Assembly, , Voter Empowerment

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 This weekend, we had a powerful statewide meeting in Louisville with allies to plan our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

We had forty participants from a wide range of groups including Jobs with Justice, NAACP, the Kentucky Council of Churches, Stepping to a New Beat, and the UAW along with a lot of KFTCmembers.  Many of the participants were former felons themselves. 

We used a lot of the time to let people in the room have a chance to connect, root themselves in why they think restoring voting rights is important, and review the history of ourcampaign and the current landscape. 

But after that, we focused a lot on actions to restore voting rights to former felons and we're sharing those out to the broader public here:

Encouraging People to Vote in Louisville

Beth Bissmeyer on November 6, 2012 in , Jefferson County, Voter Empowerment

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Here are a couple of fun images from our Jefferson County voter mobilization work this morning. 

A picture of two Manual High School students Sam and Deep doing visibility work to encourage people to vote at 2nd and Broadway.

One Vote at a time

Beth Bissmeyer on November 6, 2012 in , Jefferson County, Voter Empowerment

I picked up a man, Thomas, who lives off Preston Highway so he could vote at 6am. When we pulled up to his polling place, there was a line of people out the door waiting to vote. Fifteen minutes later when Thomas came out of St. Rita's, he said, "It's exciting to see that many other people voting." I asked him what races he was excited to vote in. "All of them! This is actually my first time voting, so I'm excited just to vote."

Thomas then told me he is a Texas native and it was his path to recovery that brought him to Kentucky. He has been sober for seven years and now teaches and helps others in their recovery. And he just voted for the first time. Moments like that is what makes this work so worthwhile, when you see democracy in action and see people lifting themselves up by making their voices heard.

- Beth Bissmeyer

Reflections from a first-time phone banker

Beth Bissmeyer on October 31, 2012 in , Jefferson County, Voter Empowerment

IMG_9736In Louisville, we've been having a blast making Get Out The Vote calls to our members and to people we’ve registered to vote this year. Thanks to our amazing volunteer members, to date, we have made 1494 calls! The main purpose of these calls is to make sure people know where to vote and have a way to get to their polling place. Calling these folks has been immensely rewarding as many of the people we have reached had no idea where to vote, and we were eager to provide them that information.

Making these calls might seem a little scary to people at first, but take it from first-time KFTC phonebanker Chris Hale, calling folks is easy and exciting to do!

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Chapter Feature:

Regular Meetings:

Jefferson County KFTC office
786 Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203
Monthly Chapter Meeting

Each 2nd Monday of the month, from 5 - 7:30 pm, JCKFTC hosts a Chapter Meeting - all are welcome and invited.

We begin by sharing a meal & networking for an hour, then spend the remaining 90 minutes discussing our ongoing work & strategizing for a future where all Kentuckians can thrive.

We have an average attendance of about 45 - 50 people & folks are welcome to bring a dish to share.

This is a life-changing family-friendly event.

You can RSVP for a monthly chapter meeting with us here.

Chapter Organizer:

Bonifacio Aleman
786 Shelby Street
Louisville, KY 40203

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