Senior Companion Program (SCP)

The Senior Companion Program (SCP) is actively looking for volunteers and our numbers are growing!

The year has been off to a great start for our Senior Companion Program. We are growing in number. Before we have our end of the month training, we will be adding new volunteers in Washington and Hardin Counties. We also recently added a new volunteer in Nelson County. Of course, this means we will be able to serve more seniors in the central Kentucky region. 

The program finished strong in 2024 with a feature in the KET special, “Aging and Healthcare: A KET Special Report,” which aired in December and can still be accessed on the KET website. We are excited to build on this momentum and would love for you to reach out if you would like to get information on becoming a Senior Companion Volunteer.

Call (270) 692-2136 or email mary.blake@ckcac.org for more information.

 

 

Congregate Meals Program

Been working on our United Way Grant and meeting with Ms. Sharon Bach for this years grant.

The meal numbers were down a little due to the cold weather, centers being closed in January because of the weather, some were closed for several days.

Getting games, puzzles activities for each center from the Veterans Program we were given. The seniors were asked for suggestions they would like new at the center. Congregate Meals is hoping to get the seniors to come back into the centers to congregate with their friends.

We are excited for our upcoming new Hardin County kitchen at the new building in Elizabethtown, very different inside from my first visit there.

We are still shorthanded in Grayson needing a part-time cook. I had completed interviews for the Coordinator position so we are hopeful.

Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Needs Volunteers!

You can join seniors across the country who are giving back by signing up to be an RSVP volunteer right in your community. Contact us at (270)737-1059 to hear about some of the opportunities we have open in Nelson and Hardin Counties. Our volunteers serve, with commitments ranging from a few hours to 40 hours per week. You chose how, where, and when you want to serve. AmeriCorps RSVP volunteers report better health and social connection having served their community.

Central KY Community Action Transportation Services (CKCATS)

CKCATS trip capacity continues to increase. I am happy to report that we have increased the number of Medicare trips. We are now completing Medicare trips in 12 counties. My goal last year was to increase drivers so that I could increase the counties in which we provide Medicare trips; this goal has been accomplished! We do not need approval to pick up counties for Medicare like we do for Medicaid. This makes it easier to expand Medicare services in various counties.

Nukem Graphics completed a van wrap in Marion County. The wrap contains information advertising all of the services that CATS provides. We are planning to do wraps just like these in all counties.  We continue to think about creative ways to advertise our services

December and January are always slower months for CATS due to the winter weather. In hazardous weather, we will provide limited services for dialysis and chemo clients only, if we are able to get to them safely. Safety is and will continue to be our number one goal for our drivers and our clients.

CKCATS received the 11 new buses that we ordered through KPTA Bid#11 in November. These buses are all 2025 Ford E350’s and come equipped with the essentials needed for transport. These vans will be registered and thoroughly inspected before being utilized and will be divided out between our 5 counties by the needs of the county.

CKCATS will hold their annual Public Hearing on February 26th at the Central Office in Lebanon at 1 pm EST. This meeting is held to discuss the transportation needs of our counties and is advertised to the public. We encourage anyone who is interested in public transportation to attend.

As always, a huge thank you to the CKCATS staff for their hard work!

CKCATS is currently fully staffed, but we are continuing to accept applications for future hiring. If you or anyone you know would like to join the staff at CKCATS, please go to careers@ckcac.org to apply.

Executive Director’s Report – February 2025

As I reflect on this first month as your Executive Director, I am honored to be able to serve you and your communities. It has been a challenging month, but we know the importance of Central Kentucky Community Action Council to our communities and will continue to serve.

January brought us a new year, a new Presidential Administration and Congress, significant winter storms and more. Through all of this, CKCAC continues to operate and bring high-quality, necessary, and essential services to the citizens of Central Kentucky. We stand ready to work with all local, state, and federal partners to alleviate the pain that poverty causes our communities.

As we continue towards Spring, we are monitoring how policy changes at the federal and state levels may impact our work. I am in constant contact with our Congressional and General Assembly delegations and will continue to work across the Community Action network to identify areas of growth. I want to ensure the longevity and success of CKCAC and appreciate any support you can provide on this journey. We are all in this together!

Thank you for all you do.

Weatherization At Work For The Clients We Serve

The Weatherization Program provides weatherization services to our 8-county area. Our final numbers for the contract year are as follows: 13 completed units, 4 jobs in-progress, and 23 deferrals. The Weatherization Program is staffed with an in-house crew, and we are utilizing contractors to perform QCI inspections, HVAC and electrical work that we must perform to the dwellings receiving services.

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

Central Kentucky Community Action Council Weatherization program is fully staffed with a highly trained supporting and technical staff consisting of Josh Mattingly-Dwelling Needs Evaluator/Crew Leader, Tessa Hinton-Crew Leader, Mike Burden-Retrofit Installer, and Samantha Ross-Weatherization Administrative Support Specialist. We would like to say a huge thank you to all Weatherization staff for their dedication to improving the quality of work and dedication to ensure the health and safety of all the clients we serve.

Central Kentucky Community Action Council has leveraged funds from utilities to expand the reach of the Weatherization Assistance Program. This year we are leveraging funding from DOE, BIL, LIHEAP, East Kentucky Power, Kentucky Utilities, and Louisville Gas & Electric.

Kentucky Works Program

The Kentucky Works Program supports the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the following Kentucky counties. Anderson, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Franklin, Grayson, Hardin, Henry, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, Washington, and Woodford. Our goal is to assess these individuals to identify barriers, work to overcome those barriers to make them self- sufficient. We also have job readiness classes to help with resumes, job search, job interviews, etc.

·       We currently have 81 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program. This is up 15 workers since the last quarter and up 31 form two quarters ago. Our Employment Specialists continue to follow up with each of these clients and track the hours they are working. We served 85 clients in the K-Tap program for the quarter ending December 31st, 2024. We placed 60 clients in the quarter. For the entire year of 2024 we assisted 348 clients and placed 154 in work experience opportunities and 230 in jobs.

·       On the SNAP Employment and Training program we continue to reach out to these clients and complete assessments when they are referred to us. We served 3,669 clients for the SNAP program during 2024, up from 1,394 in 2023.

·       We continue to stay in touch with employers and if we do get referrals we match the clients skills with the employer needs to have a good match. We call new employers each week and keep a current job listing for each county we serve.

·       Our staff continues to stay in touch with staff meeting every other month, either in person or virtually to discuss all relative matters in the program.

·       We continue to offer a wage subsidy program where if an employer hires one of our K-TAP clients they will be reimbursed for a portion of their wages during the first six month of employment.