Category: Newsletter

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 are still no sanctions being levied for non-participation until December 2022 so participation is still low. Kentucky Works staff have returned to working in the office. 

• We currently have 9 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program, and the referrals have picked up a little with the state of emergency ending. Our Employment Specialists continue to follow up with each of these clients and track the hours they are working. We served 26 clients in the K-Tap program for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
• 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 250 referrals for the SNAP program during the last quarter.
• 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.
• 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 123 sites in our 17 counties that we send our clients and as of now, only 60 are open and/or willing to accept referrals due to COVID-19. Staff visited these sites in June to update paperwork and check to see if they were needing workers.
• Our staff continues to stay in touch to discuss all relative matters in the program. We have staff meetings every other month. We started in person staff meetings again on May 17th instead of zoom.
• 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.
• We just started our new KTAP and SNAP E & T contract for July 2022 through June 2024 on July 1st.
• We recently hired a new employee for the Kentucky Works program, Brittany Henson, to cover Breckinridge and Grayson counties. Her start date was 6-20-2022.

David Lindsey, Weatherization Program Director

Central Kentucky Community Action’s Weatherization Program (WX) completed the fiscal year 2021/22 with 21 jobs deferred and 12 jobs completed. CKCAC’s weatherization program received both compliance and technical monitoring this year with good reviews. Reviews show great improvements to the program in both technical and field monitoring. The Weatherization Program has 51 clients on the waiting list for weatherization services to start the 2022/23 fiscal year. As of July 1, 2022 we are providing weatherization services to our 8-county area with 2 jobs in progress. The Weatherization Program is fully staffed with an in-house crew, and we are utilizing contractors to perform HVAC and Electrical work to the dwellings receiving services. We look forward to the future of the new contract year of CKCAC’s Weatherization Program to progress and better serve our 8-county service area.

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’s Weatherization Program is staffed with a highly trained supporting and technical staff consisting of: Denny Baxter, Dwelling Needs Evaluator EA/QCI; Josh Mattingly, Crew Leader: Tessa Hinton Retrofit, Installer; and supporting staff Barbara Garrett, Weatherization Manager. We would like to say a huge ‘Thank you’ to all WX staff for their dedication for improving the quality of work and the 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, LIHEAP, ATMOS, East Kentucky Power, Big Rivers Electric, Kentucky Utilities, and Louisville Gas & Electric.

Ellen Leake, CSBG Director

The CSBG Staff has been busy closing out one Program Year and beginning a new one. Staff members have worked diligently to enter all services that had been provided into the computer. We followed up on many clients so that we could also report the outcome of our efforts through NPI’s and services report for Regular CSBG and CARES.

The CSBG Staff have assisted:

• Regular CSBG 15,437 Individuals 7,372 Households-unduplicated count
• CARES 2,690 Individuals 1,205 Households-unduplicated count
• SPRING SUBSIDY 766 Households $133,750.00
• SPRING COOLING 1865 Households $313,250.00
• GARDENS 267 Individual gardens are planted and flourishing with the recent rains
• YOUTH PROGRAMS – The Youth Programs carried out in the Counties have been exciting. We want to provide opportunities for children who may not have them otherwise.
  • We were able to obtain a discounted family pass for one year with the Louisville Zoo. 157 families took advantage of the opportunity.
  • 3 Summer Camp
  • 2 Families Swim Passes or Lessons

Thanks to all the staff for their hard work with the various programs operated by Community Services.

Martha ‘Jewell’ Bartley, Head Start Quality Assurance Manager

As change occurs we want to make sure you know our new directors.  Join Central Kentucky Community Action in welcoming Cathy Sparrow as our new Director for the Family Child Care Homes and Unaffiliated Centers program. The Family Child Care Homes and Unaffiliated Centers program continues to impact hundreds of children every year.  Cathy was working in the Central Kentucky Community Action Finance Department and brings experience as a past Director of School Food Services for the Marion County Public School System. In that position, Cathy remarked that she had seen firsthand the need of feeding children and sometimes the whole family.   

Throughout COVID 19, it was a very trying time for childcare centers and childcare homes in Kentucky. There was a mandatory shutdown for all childcares and this shutdown not only left parents without childcare, but childcare owners without income and an emotional toll on their staff.  Since childcare centers have reopened there has been many challenges abiding by increased health and sanitation protocols.  The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) recently announced that all providers enrolled in the program with our agency would be receiving an emergency reimbursement to help reimburse providers for the payments they missed out on during the shutdown.

Cathy Sparrow will be replacing Jane Claire Hupman who has taken another position in the community and we thank her for her work here at CKCAC and wish her the best.  More to come……………much more……….

Hal Goode, Executive Director
JUNE 2022

Head Start and Early Head Start share a mission to promote school readiness of children from low-income families from prenatal to 5, by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Recently, myself, Jami Sandusky, Tammy Stanley and Bryan Conover (Head Start) attended the Region IV Head Start Association 2022 Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Ga. 

The Summit brought together hundreds of emerging and seasoned professionals, parents and partners form throughout the region and across the nation from noted Keynote speakers to robust learning sessions to engaging network opportunities. The Conference offered many ways to build while connecting with subject matter experts, colleagues, as well as sponsors and exhibitors. Our team found it a great way to return back to Kentucky with some fresh strategies and implementing progressive action plans for make a greater impact in the lives of enrolled children and their families.   More to come……………..much more……………..

Ronda Bertrand, CCC Director

April was Child Abuse Awareness Month. CCC provided pinwheels and yard signs in all eight of our counties. Trail of Hope Regional Network is required to hold trainings: April 20^th was Addiction in the Family presented by Dr. Steve Patrick and Dr. Rick Carroll on Zoom. April 22, CCC and Head Start partnered to raise money for Trooper Teddy Program with the Cattleman’s in Marion County. On April 26^th Darkness 2 Light training was in person at the Nelson County Extension office.

I would like to welcome CCC’s New In-Home Worker Amanda Westfall who has been in Early Education for over 10 years and has a passion in teaching autonomy. Amanda brings personal and professional experience to CCC and is ready to start improving lives.

Parent Engagement Meeting Program has been making follow up calls for Marion County Elementary schools in the past month.

Trail of Hope Regional Network is attending Community baby showers in Marion, Washington, Hardin, and Meade counties.

Trail of Hope Regional Networks Build A Bed program has been extremely busy getting over 20 beds to families. We would love to have the Nelson and Marion ATC school build more beds in the fall if the lumber cost is more sufficient. A big thanks to St. Vincent de Paul for making mattresses available for these families.

Wow!! Cakes 4 Kids volunteers have been busy the past month. CCC has delivered 12 cakes to our families.

Trail of Hope Regional Network met in person May 18^th for the first time in two years!! We covered major topics and are excited to meet again in September.

September 14th CCC will start meeting at Hardin County Extension Office in Elizabethtown at 10 AM.

Head Start & CCC Programs

CKCAC’s Head Start and Community Collaboration for Children (CCC) programs joined forces this past April to raise awareness during Child Abuse Awareness month. Their combined activities throughout the month of April enabled Head Start’s Nichole Burchell and Melissa Garrett to present Kentucky State Trooper Houk with a $3,000 check for the Trooper Teddy Program.

The Trooper Teddy Program enables Troopers to provide the stuffed animals to children during traumatic experiences such as a car crash, child or sexual abuse cases and also distribute to terminally ill children.

A special thanks to our Head Start and CCC programs for helping to raise Child Abuse Awareness throughout our communities. Awareness is the first step towards prevention.

Ann Pickerrell, Head Start Readiness Manager

The Springfield  and Lebanon Head Starts held ribbon cuttings with support from our communities and parents. Community members explored the new centers, playgrounds, and classrooms. The teachers were excited to show off their classrooms and talk about the exciting projects they have planned.

The CKYHS/EHS employees strengthened their collaboration and problem-solving skills at the end of year Professional Development Day. It is imperative to continuously build on skills that will support employees providing high quality services to children and families. Central Kentucky Head Start and Early Head Start invests in their employees which would include completing their Child Development Associates credential, attending university courses and with continuous professional development opportunities.

Ann Pickerrell, Head Start Readiness Manager

The employees worked hard this school year providing services to our children and families. The program collects School Readiness data based on 5 developmental domains: Approaches to Learning, Social Emotional, Language and Literacy, Cognition, and Physical Development. Based on observations and assessments the program not only met their annual School Readiness Goals but exceeded them.