Kendell Nash, a KFTC member in Jefferson County, does not shy away from ways to make Kentucky better, and there are certainly some good starting points that most Kentuckians are aware of, especially this week. But yesterday, after signing up her family for health insurance on KYNECT, Kendell said, "It feels very good to be a Kentuckian right now."
Kentucky is playing a key role in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It is the only southern state to have opened up a state-based marketplace. (Governor Beshear's affirmation of how Kentuckians would benefit drew national acclaim. Check out this New York Times story about the pepople left behind in states that have not opted in.) It is one of only two southern states (Arkansas is the other) to be moving toward expanding Medicaid to higher incomes. Further, the process of getting people signed up for health coverage seems to have gone better in Kentucky than in many other states.
Scanning KFTC’s social media feeds confirms, of course, frustration over tactics by House Republicans, and fear about the impact of the government shutdown. Attempts to confirm weekend hikes, fall camping trips, and sources for research projects kept bumping up against websites that are now closed because of the federal government shutdown. The impact of the shutdown will continue until well after it has passed. What we know now is that it will be significant, with thousands of federal workers furloughed, Head Start programs shutting down, federal school lunch programs and WIC uncertain, and the EPA basically shuttered.
On September 24, Southern Kentucky KFTC members came together for their regular monthly chapter meeting with many big updates and even bigger plans for the next few months.
Steering Committee representatives updated members on the recent steering committee retreat held in Whitesburg, which provided both an orientation to newly elected representatives and an exciting start to our Fall Fundraising campaign. Several local members have agreed to participate in our Power Builders program, joining members all across Kentucky to celebrate KFTC’s focus on growing a healthy democracy as we raise funds, awareness, and members. To see how to join in this HUGE event, visit our KFTC POWER BUILDER page.
"There’s a huge disconnect between the rank partisanship of national politics and the outlook of governors whose job it is to help beleaguered families, strengthen work forces, attract companies and create a balanced budget."
Noted Kentucky farmer and author Wendell Berry spoke during the opening session of KFTC's annual membership meeting in August. We are pleased to share the full text of his speech below. You may also download his essay.
Also, be sure to mark your calendars for a very special interview with Wendell Berry by Bill Moyers. Their conversation will be shown nationwide on public television stations in early October. In Kentucky the program will be aired twice on Sunday, October 6, 2013. It will be shown on KET 1 at 11 a.m. and on KET 2 at 6 p.m.
LOCAL ECONOMIES TO SAVE THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE
Written and delivered by Wendell Berry at the KFTC annual membership meeting, August 16, 2013
As often before, my thoughts begin with the modern history of rural Kentucky, which in all of its regions has been deplorable. In my county, for example, as recently as the middle of the last century, every town was a thriving economic and social center. Now all of them are either dying or dead. If there is any concern about this in any of the state’s institutions, I have yet to hear about it. The people in these towns and their tributary landscapes once were supported by their usefulness to one another. Now that mutual usefulness has been removed and the people relate to one another increasingly as random particles.
It's always a great time to be a Kentuckian, but thanks to Governor Beshear making the choice to accept federal money to expand Medicaid and create our own healthcare marketplace, Kynect, it is time to brag a little and get excited. Everyone knows that Kentucky, while awesome, continues to rank at the bottom in most national health rankings.
KFTC sent a delegation of 11 people to participate in the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. They traveled with a group of about 100 Kentuckians on buses organized by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. These reflections and photos are from one member who made the trip.
Fifty years have passed since the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when Martin Luther King Jr. famously bellowed, “I have a dream” here on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where I now stand.
There are deeply eroded grooves on each marble step, worn and weary from the footsteps of previous generations who likewise marched for equality. From the 1913 Women Suffrage Parade to the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in 1957, these steps have become sacred ground for the forgotten, neglected, and disenfranchised citizens of our nation.
Now here we stand, honoring the legacy of Dr. King, Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and others who sacrificed their lives so that my generation could freely go to the polls on Election Day and attend integrated schools.
KFTC members and friends have been following the "Dream 9" immigration rights dirction action that started in late July in Arizona. The "Deam 9" is the name given to nine undocumented young people who crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. to voluntarily turn themselves into the U.S.
A full-time minimum wage worker whose job required crossing the Ohio River every day would have to work 69 hours to pay the tolls on new bridges being built in Louisville.
For that reason, KFTC stood with many other groups, state legislators and individuals on Tuesday in support of mechanisms to lessen or eliminate this additional cost on workers who can least afford it.
That's how the Kentuckians of Jefferson County kicked-off their 30th anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 22, 2013.
In the heart of Butchertown – down the block from the former Jefferson County chapter office – the Tim Faulkner Gallery hosted the Birthday Bash, which featured music from a variety of local artists including Leigh Ann Yost and The Blacktop Farmers.
