Author: Kathy Mills

Melissa Bland, RSVP Director

Central Kentucky Community Action Council is proud to be the regional affiliate for one of the largest volunteer networks in the nation, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

Best known as RSVP, our volunteers continue to be a lifeline to non-profit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based group, all of which rely on their support to meet the rising demand for services.

RSVP volunteers choose how, where, and how often they want to serve. Commitment hours can range anywhere from a few hours per month to almost full time, though the average commitment is four hours per week.

RSVP Volunteer Requirements

The only requirements are that all volunteers must be at least 55 years old and willing to serve in Hardin or Nelson County.

RSVP Volunteer Benefits

• RSVP volunteers will receive monthly mileage reimbursement to and from their work station. The current monthly maximum is $60 per month.

• RSVP volunteers will receive insurance coverage to and from their workstation and while at their work station.

• Transportation to and from the workstation can be arranged and paid for any RSVP volunteer that does not drive.

• All volunteers will be invited to an annual appreciation luncheon where they can win door prizes! 

Contact Information

Contact Melissa Bland, RSVP Director, at 270-737-1059 or rsvp.director@ckcac.org if you would like more information including the benefits offered to all volunteers.

You are also welcome to stop by the RSVP office which is in the Griffin Manor Senior Center, 1119 Johnstown Road in Elizabethtown. 

Hal B. Goode, Executive Director

It’s been two years since the last Senior Celebration due to COVID but this year the Lincoln Trail Service Providers will hold the Senior Celebration on May 25, 2023 from 9 AM – 2 PM at the Pritchard Community Center at 404 S. Mulberry Street in Elizabethtown. 

 This is a wonderful time to celebrate with our Seniors. The event is FREE and some of the activities are:

·        Speakers

·        Vendors and booths

·        Live Entertainment and Music

·        Workshops

·        Exercise

·        Bingo

·        Lunch

·        Door Prizes and much more.

Also, if you have a Senior who is looking for Transportation you may contact the Central KY Community Action Transportation (CATS) at 270-692-2136 or 1-800-242-8225.  Contact the Lincoln Trail ADD for more information at 270-769-2393.

More to come……..much more

Kerri Taylor, Transportation Director

February 2023 Newsletter

I am happy again to report that CKCATS trip capacity continues to increase! We are still able to provide all of our services, despite the shortage of staff. Our Drivers in all counties work and communicate together to help one another with completing trips.

Our FY23 Compliance Reviews with the Office of Transportation and Lincoln Trail Area Development District both came back without any findings. Thanks to all those who helped in pulling information together for these reviews!

There is still a shortage of the transit and buses that CKCATS uses for transporting, but we did receive word that CKCATS would be eligible to receive four of the five 12×2 vehicles that we requested from the FY23 grant applications. According to OTD, there were fifty 12×2 vehicles available and they were able to divvy out the vehicles appropriately to ensure that each Agency would receive a portion of the available vehicles. We are expecting these vehicles to arrive within the next few months.

We now have 3 billboard signs promoting Intercity travel. 1 billboard is on the Marion/Washington county line and 2 are in Hardinsburg. We hope that this advertisement brings an increase of Intercity trips.

I attended the Kentucky Public Transit Authority (KPTA) Conference, along with several CKCATS employees and Executive Director, Hal Goode. This conference was held November 14-16 in Lexington, KY. This is an excellent conference to receive valuable information about public transportation and a great way to network.

CKCATS will be holding its annual Coordination Meeting on Feb. 15^th 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.

I am excited to announce the new staff positions that have been added to CKCATS! Tasha Hull is the new Grant & Compliance Manager. This is a new position to CKCATS. Tasha will be reviewing and completing grant applications each year, as well as researching new grants that may be available to CKCATS. She will also assist in Compliance Reviews for all programs as well as making sure CKCATS remains in compliance with all federal and state regulations. Edward Murray has also taken on a new position at CKCATS as the Maintenance Manager. Edward Murray will be responsible for the maintenance of the fleet as well as the maintenance of the facilities in all counties. Edward Murray comes to us with years of experience in vehicle and building maintenance as well as DOT inspection experience. With the increase in trips and the volume of daily calls to the current Fleet Manager, Daryl Hardin, I added another Fleet Manager to help manage the 5 counties. William Clements, along with Daryl Hardin, will be responsible for overseeing the drivers, handling scheduling and driver issues, reviewing and completing the mileage report, and reviewing driver manifest and timesheets. We welcome each of them to the team!

With that being said, CKCATS has a wonderful and dedicated group of staff! Thanks to the staff for working diligently to keep up with the increases of trips and for showing up to get the job done even in inclement weather!

If you or anyone you know would like to join the staff at CKCATS please go to careers@ckcac.org to apply. CKCATS is hiring for full-time and part-time drivers in Marion, Larue, Nelson, Breckinridge and Grayson counties.

Kerri Taylor

Transportation Director

Courtney Campbell, SCP Director

The Senior Companion Program (SCP) is actively looking for volunteers! 

The SCP Program recruits volunteers that are aged 55 or older to provide in-home services to the frail elderly that helps them remain living independently in their own homes. SCP volunteers provide companionship, light housecleaning, light meal preparation, short distance transportation, and respite care. All services are delivered at no cost to the client or recipient. We currently serve six counties: Breckinridge, Grayson, Hardin, Marion, Nelson, and Washington. 

Senior Companions are continuing to provide their companionship services within the homes of our communities. The SCP is still feeling the lingering effects from Covid19. There are currently 19 active volunteers, and we are hopeful to keep increasing the number of volunteers throughout the year! Last year our volunteers provided over 18,500 hours of service combined, to help keep our seniors in their homes! 

Martha ‘Jewell’ Bartley, Head Start Quality Assurance Manager

Tammy Stanley, Head Start Director

Head Start continues to follow its mission to deliver quality education services for children and families to be school ready while engaging partnerships and community resources. Recently our program was selected to be a part of a national pilot program for CLASS review. This review is conducted virtually, and we are in the process of completing these observations. 

We continue engage our families through home visits, monthly parent meetings and activities. We have initiated Family Literacy Nights in our centers. The Literacy Nights are part of Ready 4K, the research based parenting curriculum used. The literacy nights focus on building school ready skills but most importantly, our families do activities together. 

Above are pictures from the literacy nights at the Lebanon and Bardstown Centers. Parents and children engage with staff in activities during our Literacy Nights. 

Tommy Wheatley, Kentucky Works Director

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, and 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.

 Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on both of our programs. The state of emergency that the state of Kentucky had implemented with a “Good Cause Exemption” where clients are not required to participate in the programs was lifted on July 1^st, however there were no sanctions being levied for non-participation until December 2022 so participation is still low.

 · We currently have 24 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program, and 6 clients that are at a site gaining work experience. The referrals have picked up with the state of emergency ending and sanctions now being implemented for non-compliance. Our Employment Specialists continue to follow up with each of these clients and track the hours they are working. We served 67 clients in the K-Tap program for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 which more than doubles the number we served in the last quarter, and is 41 more than we served for all of the last fiscal year.

· 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 had 1060 referrals for the SNAP program during the last fiscal year.

· We continue to stay in touch with employers and if we do get referrals, we match the client’s 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.

· We continue to see an impact with Covid on our Work Experience Program sites as some of them are still unable to accept our referrals. We have 124 sites in our 17 counties that we send our clients and as of now, 67 are open and/or willing to accept referrals due to Covid-19. Staff visited these sites in October to update paperwork and check to see if they were needing workers and are currently in the process of checking again.

· Our staff continues to stay in touch to discuss all relative matters in the program. We have staff meetings every other month. We are now conducting our staff meetings in person.

· 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.