Economic Justice News | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Economic Justice News

Local black lung resolution is picking up steam

October 16, 2018 at 11:22am

Most recent update as of Jan 2, 2019: Sixteen local governments in Kentucky have passed local resolutions in 2018 calling on Senator McConnell and other members of Congress to do right by our miners and communities by passing the RECLAIM Act, strengthening funding for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, and protecting miners' pensions. 

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The resolution was first adopted by the City of Benham in Harlan County in September 2018. That action was followed quickly by local governments in the cities of JacksonMorehead and Whitesburg, and in BreathittKnottLetcherRowan and Pike counties. 

Knott, Letcher, Rowan and Pike counties became the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th local governments in eastern Kentucky to pass a local resolution calling on members of Congress to pass several bills needed to help sick, disabled, retired and unemployed coal miners and their communities. The fiscal courts in Letcher and Knott counties took the unanimous action at their respective monthly meetings on October 15, and Pike and Rowan counties acted the next day.

Update 11.30.2018: The Floyd County Fiscal Court became the 10th Kentucky community to pass the resolution on October 18. Magoffin County quickly became the 11th, followed by Ohio County, in Western Kentucky, Knox County, and the City of Lynch in Harlan County. 

Update 12.10.2018: Johnson County's Fiscal Court passed the 15th resolution in Kentucky by local governments calling on Senator McConnell and other members of Congress to do right by our miners and coal communities!

Update in late December: Harlan County's Fiscal Court passed the 16th resolution urging Congress to pass the RECLAIM Act, strengthen the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, and protect miners' pensions. 

Out of Reach: Foreclosed, displaced and evicted from My Old Kentucky Home

October 15, 2018 at 03:46am
Southern Kentucky

The struggle for fair and affordable housing is a national one, taking hold across Kentucky. It’s a challenge that Kentuckians face on many levels.

Voter Empowerment Organizer Alexa Hatcher of the Southern Kentucky chapter shared how housing issues show up in KFTC’s work for a healthy democracy.

Housing issues at forefront of Bowling Green local elections

September 19, 2018 at 04:30pm

In a recent Daily News article "Census data show local growth, challenges", Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said, "It is gratifying to see we are growing. Industry recruitment and workforce development have been a major focus of the local officials in recent years." Mayor Bruce Wilkerson said, “As a community, we have worked together to that goal and we are making progress thanks to the efforts of city, county and state government."

Benham & Jackson are first Kentucky cities to pass a local resolution supporting miners and communities

September 15, 2018 at 09:59am

The Benham City Council in Harlan County and Jackson City Council in Breathitt County are the first local governments in Kentucky to pass a local resolution calling on members of Congress to pass three bills needed to help sick, disabled, retired and unemployed coal workers and their families and communities. Benham’s city government took the unanimous action at its monthly meeting on September 13. Jackson's city government adopted the resolution one week later on September 20, 2018.

Advocates hope other local governments may soon follow their example. A similar resolution was adopted several weeks ago in Virginia by the City of Big Stone Gap.

KFTC members are taking part in a week of climate action in California

September 9, 2018 at 05:18pm

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Seven members and two staff of KFTC are in San Francisco right now, participating in a week of climate actions called Solidarity to Solutions (Sol2Sol for short), aimed at bringing grassroots voices and solutions to the forefront during a major global climate summit that is being hosted by California Governor Jerry Brown and attended by many corporate and state leaders. The Kentuckians are among 500 grassroots delegates organized by It Takes Roots, a collection of four important networks, including the Climate Justice Alliance, Right To The City, Grassroots Global Justice, and the Indigenous Environmental Network.

The Sol2Sol week has been planned with the following goals: "To serve and be in solidarity with the leadership of communities in the Bay Area, across the state, and around the world; to challenge, expose and stop the massive subsidies being handed to multi-national corporations that are violating and destroying our families, ecosystems, and climate; to move public funds to repair, restore and protect Mother Earth and all her peoples; to end the epidemic of disaster capitalism, and redirect stolen wealth to the service, solidarity, and support of communities who are developing place-based solutions to address the root causes of climate change, poverty, and the crisis of democracy."

On Saturday, the nine KFTC members joined with more than 30,000 others in a large and boisterous march in downtown San Francisco, organized by the People's Climate Movement. 

"I'm honored to be here," said Alexa Hatcher from Bowling Green. "Yesterday was about connecting to one another. Everyone was taking care of each other. We were marching with a single purpose and that's to build solidarity where corporations and government powers have historically worked to keep us apart. We are not fighting against each other for scarce resources anymore. We're coming together against a common enemy that has worked to keep us silent and dependent to build a better future for us all."

Here are 5 ways to boost Kentucky's economic development

August 25, 2018
The Courier-Journal

It’s time for a robust discussion about what economic development policies would actually work. We need new ideas that are backed by evidence and rise to meet the moment we are now in. Kentuckians are hungry for bold answers to the old problems facing our state.

Watch Anthony Thigpenn's keynote address to KFTC's 2018 Annual Meeting

August 22, 2018 at 03:12pm

On August 4, Anthony Thigpenn addressed the hundreds of KFTC members at our 2018 Annual Membership Meeting. Thigpenn is a Los Angeles-based community organizer with more than 30 years of experience. He currently leads California Calls, a powerful alliance of 31 organizations in 12 counties around the state. The primary mission of California Calls is to achieve progressive, long-term tax and fiscal policy reform by engaging underrepresented, low-income voters in state public policy decision-making.

Anthony is widely recognized as a leading expert in grassroots, civic engagement technology and programs. He ran successful field campaigns for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Congresswoman Karen Bass, State Senator Kevin de León, and former City Councilmember Martin Ludlow, among others.

We are excited to share his speech and question and answer session with you below. 

Bevin’s spite is a prescription for pain

July 3, 2018
Lexington Herald Leader

Gov. Matt Bevin’s decision to end dental and vision coverage for 460,000 Kentuckians is vindictive, probably illegal and also illogical because emergency-room visits for dental problems will increase.

New taxes won’t do much for Kentucky. (But they’re sweet for the well-off.)

June 29, 2018
Lexington Herald Leader

In Kentucky, conventional wisdom has long held that if lawmakers are going to raise taxes (and inevitably make some voters mad), the increase should be big enough to both accomplish something dramatic and avoid the need for another one any time soon (like three or four decades).

In 2018, the Republicans who control the legislature junked that conventional wisdom.

The Poor People’s Campaign and KFTC share key goals

July 9, 2018 at 12:03pm

On a hot day last month, I stood in front of the state capitol building with hundreds of other Kentuckians, including many KFTC members. We were led that day by Reverend William Barber, the co-leader of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

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