Author: Kathy Mills

Executive Director’s Report – May 2025

May is Community Action Month! We are celebrating the amazing things that Central Kentucky Community Action is doing across our area all month long! Please follow our Facebook page to learn more.

We are still operating a LIHEAP Spring subsidy program that will run through the end of May. If you know of any folks in our area who need help paying utility bills, please send them to their local CSBG office in each county.

May 18th is Head Start’s 60th birthday! 60 years of helping our young people is an amazing achievement! Here is to 60 more!!!

Please watch the interview with Hal B. Goode and gng On Demand to hear more of the amazing things happening with CKCAC!

Thank you for all you do.

Community Connect with Bryan Conover, Executive Director of CKCAC, Inc.

Senior Companion Program (SCP)

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

Our Senior Companion Volunteers are excited to be a part of the work of Central Kentucky Community Action. We currently have 28 Senior Corps volunteers helping approximately 50 elderly community members to remain in their homes and live independently. These volunteers assist with light housework, run errands, provide transportation, and develop bonds of companionship with these more fragile senior members of our communities.

To become a Senior Corps volunteer, contact us at 270-692-2135 or email mary.blake@ckcac.org. We will provide you with details of how to become a companion to someone who needs assistance in your area. Join us and help us serve those in need and help improve the quality of life for these seniors who have already given so much to those in their lives.

 

Congregate Meals Program

April was eventful for Congregate Meals Program. The new cooking site in Elizabethtown seems to be progressing with the install of appliances soon and it is great that we have hired a full-time cook with experience for our new kitchen in Hardin County. We will continue to look for two part-time cooks for Hardin County.

Congregate Meals were down in April due to the flooding in our counties and the holiday. Our employees at the Congregate centers are busy with paperwork.

Senior Celebration 2025 will be May 22, 2025, thanks to Lincoln Trail Area Development District for having this event for our seniors in Kentucky. Last year’s Senior Celebration was a success and so will this year’s.

Central KY Community Action Transportation Services (CKCATS)

CKCATS is fully staffed with 62 employees and has been busy providing various transportation services to 15 counties:

Marion, Breckinridge, Grayson, Nelson and Larue Counties- we provide General Public, VET, Senior, Department of Corrections, Medicaid and Medicare trips.

Meade and Hardin Counties-we provide Senior trips.

Washington County- we provide Senior, Medicaid and Medicare trips.

Edmonson and Hart Counties-we provide VET trips.

Bullitt, Adair, Boyle, Taylor, and Green Counties- we provide Medicare trips.

CKCATS held their annual Public Hearing meeting on February 26th at 1pm EST at the CATS Central Office. This meeting is advertised and made available to the public each year to address the needs and concerns of the general public in all counties. Surveys are given to clients and Stakeholders in all counties and the information gathered is used for discussion to help improve transportation services.

During the public meeting, I connected with American Legion Commander, Tom Sparks, who asked me to attend his event, Donuts with VETS at the Marion County Public Library to speak with the veterans about our services. We attended this event on April 3rd and May 1st and are working with the veterans on some suggestions on how to increase VET trips.

Executive Director, Bryan Conover, and I attended the R.E.A.C.H. Pre-Release Program on April 24th at the Marion County Detention Center. This program is held to inform inmates who are eligible for release within a month of the resources that Marion County has that could possibly be of help to them. This is a new program and CKCAC plans to attend each month to help these inmates take advantage of the resources that the community has available for them upon release.

CKCATS is gearing up for the Senior Celebration that will be held on May 22nd at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown. This is a huge event for Senior participation each year. CKCATS will be providing transportation from the Senior Centers to Pritchard Community Center for all seniors who pre-register for the ride. CKCATS will also have a booth at the Senior Celebration and will be talking with seniors to make them aware of the services that we provide.

Several staff members of the CKCATS team will be attending the Community Action Kentucky (CAK) Conference in Lexington from June 10-12th. We are looking forward to networking and learning valuable information.

At one point, CKCATS went three years without receiving vehicles due to the shortage of the vehicles that we use for transporting. Fortunately, we were able to maintain our current fleet by using funds received from 5339b grant to rehab our fleet. I am happy to report that since February of 2024, CKCATS has received 24 new vehicles that are all wheelchair accessible. 1 of those vehicles was a new bus that was purchased by Louisville Wheels and given to CKCATS. We are currently waiting for the delivery of 2 more new vehicles with 3 more on back order. CKCATS now has enough vehicles and spare vehicles on hand for each county!

CKCATS is fully staffed at this time, but we are continuing to accept applications for future hiring. With that being said, CKCATS has a wonderful and dedicated group of staff! Thanks to the staff for working diligently each day! If you or anyone you know has questions about CKCATS or any of our services, please contact the office at 1-800-242-8225 or 270-692-9313 to speak with any of our experienced verification clerks.

CKCAC Board of Directors Meeting

 

As a non-profit agency, Central Kentucky Community Action, Inc. is required to inform the local community of the Area Board of Director’s Meeting which is open to the public. The meeting will be on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at 3:00 PM EST. For more information, call the Central Office at 270-692-2136.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT – APRIL 2025

On behalf of Central Kentucky Community Action Council, I hope that you and your loved ones had a great Easter weekend and are looking forward to Spring. We are hard at work supporting the citizens of central Kentucky!

We are operating a LIHEAP Spring subsidy program that will run through the end of May. If you know of any folks in our area who need help paying utility bills, please send them to their local CSBG office in each county.

CKCAC’s new property in Elizabethtown (708 Westport Road) is almost fully renovated. Our contractors with Woodbine Construction anticipate that they will be done with their work by the end of May. We are hoping to begin moving our Elizabethtown/Hardin County programs, including Community Services Block Grant, Elizabethtown Head Start, Senior Congregate Meals, Community Collaboration for Children, Kentucky Works, and Transportation offices by mid-June. Be on the lookout for more information and a ribbon-cutting celebration this summer!

CKCAC is continuing to monitor policy changes at the federal and state levels. 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, 20 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 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 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 Department of Energy, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Low-Income Home Assistance Program (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 83 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program. This is up 2 workers since the last quarter and up 33 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 99 clients in the K-Tap program for the quarter ending March 31st, 2025, which was an increase form 85 the previous quarter. We placed 77 clients in the quarter which was up from 60 the previous quarter.

·       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 1,015 clients for the SNAP program during quarter ending March 31st 2025.

·       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.