Author: J Miles

The Congregate Meals Program (CMP) Staff is hoping the groundhog is right, and that Spring is right around the corner. The sickness has been high in all counties, even though we’ve been lucky to have mild weather this winter.

Amanda Stoess, Dietetic Consultant for the Department of Aging and Independent Living, conducted the state audit on January 17th. The audits were conducted at the Grayson County site kitchen and the Griffin Manor Senior Center. Everything went smoothly and we are expecting a good report.

Due to the remodeling of the Prichard Center, our annual Senior Celebration will be earlier than usual. The Senior Celebration will be held on Thursday, March 19th, 2020. See the flyer below for more information.

From July 1st, 2019 to January 31st, 2020, the CMP has served 23,659 meals to 551 unduplicated clients. CMP has provided 1,701 Bingocize sessions to 184 unduplicated clients and has provided 2,964 nutrition education sessions to 327 unduplicated clients.

Sam Clements was hired to work as a Transportation Assistant on August 13th, 2001. Sam served on the Federal Transportation of the Bluegrass Board and attended meetings with the Lincoln Trail Area Development District Service Providers, Regional Transportation & Highway Safety Committee, Workforce Investment Board, the One Stop Committee and the Marion County Inter Agency Council.

Throughout his 18 years with CKCATS, Sam traveled to six counties, which includes Grayson, Breckinridge, Larue, Nelson, Marion and Washington Counties, to promote CKCATS safe and affordable transportation services. Sam did this to help improve the quality of life for the clients we serve. He would pass out brochures, speak to nursing home residents and medical facilities. Sam also visited with many different factories and discovered that 30% of factory employees do not have reliable transportation. This is something we are trying to address at this time.

Many thanks to Sam Clements for a job well done! Sam was a huge asset to our Transportation staff and we wish him nothing but the best in this next chapter of life!

The Kentucky Legislature is in full swing, which made for a busy month for Central KY Community Action Council (CKCAC). Community Action Kentucky partnered with CKCAC, for a legislative breakfast in Frankfort, to meet with our legislators. It was a very successful day that focused on the programs within our organization.

Senator Jimmy Higdon took the time to sit down with us and discuss our programs in depth. One program that stood out to Senator Higdon was the Weatherization Program. Senator Higdon gave a Legislative Update that was featured in the Nelson County Gazette, that discusses the Weatherization Program. Here is a link to the article: http://nelsoncountygazette.com/?p=42594

Many thanks to Senator Higdon and all of our elected legislators for taking the time to meet with us. Together we can continue to find ways to break down the barriers for those fighting poverty. More to come, much more…

Jennifer was referred to the Kentucky Works Program after she had hit, what she considers, her absolute rock bottom. She never imagined that she would find herself in this position and she knew that if she was going to keep custody of her 11-month, she would have to make some serious changes.

The first of those changes was forced upon Jennifer by the courts. She entered the local Saving Hope Program, which is a group living home for mothers who are at risk of losing their children. Jennifer then began the process of completing the KARE Program, which is a required drug program for nurses who have had their license suspended due to substance abuse. Jennifer was also participating in the Kentucky Works job training program at a local food pantry.

When Jennifer was cleared to return to work, she found it very difficult to find employment because of her past history. Then she found the Journey Pure Treatment Center, who specializes in helping people overcome substance abuse. The Journey Pure Treatment Director, Jerry Lucas, told the Kentucky Works Program Director, Tracy Dennison, that he had to hire her; he had to practice what he preached. He hired Jennifer through the Wage Subsidy Program, starting her out at $22.00 an hour. Six months later, she is making over $28.00 an hour and has full-time benefits.

Jennifer is extremely grateful for everything the Kentucky Works Program has helped her accomplish and she is continuing to mentor others, like herself, to help them overcome these difficult barriers.

It’s the busiest time of the year for the Community Services Staff. They have just completed Subsidy Component LIHEAP Subsidy, worked with other service organizations for a successful Christmas Assistance Program and prepared the second quarter CSBG Service and ROMA reports. On January 6th, the LIHEAP Crisis program began.

The LIHEAP Subsidy program assisted 3523 families with home heating assistance, in the amount of $487,334.00, in our 8 county service area. This program began on October 7th, 2019 for pre-registration, and ran through Dec. 20th, 2019. The program proceeded smoothly thanks to the hard work of our dedicated staff members. The number of applicants was up for our agency. The Central Office continues to work to pay all of the vendors and balance the program.

CSBG is in the process of completing the annual Needs Assessment process. An email link has been emailed to the Board of Directors for their input. This survey information will be entered into a database for accurate compilation. The results of the Needs Assessment Survey will determine the work plan for the next program year. The information will also be available to other programs and to the community.

The Wintercare Program is available to families for utility assistance. These funds are donated by utility customers as they pay their utility bill, and sometimes matched by the utility company. This program is used for families who are over income for LIHEAP, but under 150% of the federal poverty level. These families are often the “working poor” that fall between the cracks in income level eligibility.

Central Ky Community Action Council’s (CKCAC) Weatherization Program is performing services in our 8 county service area. CKCAC’s Weatherization Program received contracts from DOE and LIHEAP for the 2019/2020 year. There are 42 clients on the waiting list to receive services as of July 1st, 2019. As of December 31st, 2019 the program has completed 15 units, with 17 walkaway units.

Our goal with weatherization is to continue to reduce energy and waste and to assure the health and safety of each client we serve. This is achieved by consistent testing of; aliening air and thermal boundaries, pressure diagnostics, heating system diagnostics, indoor air quality, and base load energy consumption diagnostics.

Happy New Year! Our CKCAC Team is ready for the many projects and challenges that 2020 has in store for our agency. Please join me in welcoming Melissa Bland. Melissa will be joining our Community Action family as our Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Director.

Melissa lives in the Elizabethtown area and comes to Central KY Community Action Council (CKCAC) from Gates Corporation; where she worked for 27 years. Melissa has a bachelors degree in General Studies, with an emphasis in business. Melissa began her role on January 2nd and can be reached at her new office in Griffon Manor, in Elizabethtown.

The RSVP Program provides funding to Central KY Community Action Council for the dual purpose of engaging persons 55 and older in volunteer services to meet critical community needs and to provide a high quality experience that will enrich the lives of volunteers.

As always, we appreciate your support and would be more than happy to assist you in any way we can. More to come……much more.

The Community Collaboration for Children Program has been working diligently with 6 families. We have been assisting caregivers by connecting them with the Community Action’s CSBG offices so that they may apply for the LIHEAP Program, Christmas Assistance, as well as other services offered. We are also working on parenting goals, self-sufficiency skills and home safety with the families we serve.

The Lincoln Trail Regional Network has started having subcommittee meetings to make decisions on April’s Child Abuse Awareness Month and other child abuse prevention programs. The committee has been looking at media outlets and how we can use these tools to educate individuals on abuse and neglect in our area. This is very important as Kentucky leads the nation in highest abuse and neglect cases.

The Regional Network hosted a Poverty Simulation on October 30^th at the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College for all CCC and Regional Network staff and parents in the state of Kentucky. Poverty is a reality for many individuals and families, however unless you’ve experienced poverty, it’s difficult to truly understand. The Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) bridges that gap from misconception to understanding. CAPS is an interactive immersion experience. It sensitizes community participants to the realities of poverty. CAPS is not a game. It is based on real Community Action clients and their lives. During the simulation, a participant is given a role to play, live in a month in poverty and experience low-income families’ lives. The goal of CAPS is to shift the paradigm about poverty away from being seen as a personal failure and toward the understanding of poverty as structural, a failure of society.

A new center in Boyle County, Christ The Head Child Care, started on the Unaffiliated Centers Program in November. A Family Child Care in Hardin County, Shawna Baldwin’s, starts in December.

There are now 23 Unaffiliated Centers sponsored by the agency and 32 Family Child Care programs. Each of them works hard to make good nutrition a priority for their program. Many have revamped their menus after training to provide less processed foods, while still serving food the children will eat.

All Family Child Care Providers and Unaffiliated Centers have received 3 hours of training to fulfill the annual requirement for training. There were 75 participants at the five trainings. As soon as training was completed, all new enrollment/income applications had to be approved for the new fiscal year. There were over a 1000 applications to approve. It has been very time consuming, with regular monitoring and food reports to be approved.