Category: Newsletter

David Lindsey Weatherization Program Director  

Central Kentucky Community Action’s Weatherization Program ended the year fully staffed and look forward to what the new year will bring. CKCAC’s weatherization program has experienced some set backs to start out the new year with our QCI staff being out with illness and injury. We have utilized this time to achieve new required trainings for staff as well as assisted other programs such as head start with moving into their new buildings. As of June 30, 2021 CKCAC has 42 clients on the waiting list to receive Weatherization services as of July 1^st 2021 to start the new year. The Weatherization Program is fully staffed with an in-house crew and are still utilizing contractors to perform HVAC and Electrical work that we have to perform 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.
Central Kentucky Community Action Council Wx program is fully 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, Kentucky Utilities, and Louisville Gas& Electric.
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.

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. Covid-19 continues to have a significant impact on both of our programs. While there is a current state of emergency, the state of Kentucky has implemented a “Good Cause exemption” where clients are not required to participate in the programs. This good cause exemption is currently in effect through 12-31-2021 but could be extended beyond that date until the vaccines can be more widely distributed. We currently have 3 clients that are employed in the K-TAP Program. Our Employment Specialists continue to follow up with each of these clients and track the hours they are working. 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 127 referrals for the SNAP program during this 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 many of them are either closed or unable to accept our referrals. We updated them and the numbers taking volunteers has improved. We have 135 sites in our 17 counties that we send our clients and as of now, 59 are open and/or willing to accept referrals due to Covid-19. This is similar to last quarter. Our staff continues to stay in touch virtually to discuss all relative matters in the program.

-We started a new case management system in July and staff have been trained for this system. There have been issues with the system that the state is trying to fix.

– 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 have one new client that started unsubsidized employment in the SNAP program.

Ellen Leake CSBG Director

CSBG/LIHEAP September 2021
Our program continues its work from being an immediate emergency assistance provider to becoming a program that really helps the families of low-income change their lives. Although we continue to provide emergency assistance, we also assist with budgeting, developing family goal plans and strategies to avoid future emergencies. As we work with families to develop strategies to prevent future emergencies, tips such as budget billing, paying your rent first, shopping at less expensive stores, and controlling impulsive spending are helpful and sometimes well received. Those not working are encouraged to find employment. Our employment and education programs can assist with small barriers to gaining full time employment or better employment. How do we help? It can be partial assistance with a CNA, CDL class, or proper clothing and shoes for a new job, gas for transportation to work for a week.
SUMMER COOLING   3658 households have been assisted, total spent $1,346,700.00SUMMER COOLING CRISIS 1755 households have been assisted, total spent $468,712.54
PREPARING FOR LIHEAP Official Dates for Subsidy, Nov. 1^st  through Dec. 10^th.We will not be using a Calendar Schedule for Subsidy this year. The vendor information packets have been sent to over 100 vendors. Vendor advertisements have run in local papers throughout the 8 county region. The vendor agreements must be on file in the Central Office before vendors can participate in the Low Income Heating Assistance Program. Special thanks in advance to Judith for a job well done. When these agreements are returned by mail, they will be reviewed, filed, and then the information updated in the computers in the county offices.
Pre-registration opportunities for the 2021-2022 Subsidy Heating Assistance Program will be offered during October 18th – October 29th for those residents who are on a fixed income, and who are elderly (age 60 or over) or disabled receiving social security, SSI, pension or Black Lung benefits. Pre-registration benefits will post in November. Applicants must be within 150% of the federal poverty guidelines and willing to provide the documentation below:

-Address Verification, metered utility bill, unopened legal piece of first class mail confirming the name and address, etc.

-Proof of all household income for preceding month (food stamp award letter, pay stubs, etc.)

-Social Security card(s) or official documentation with social security numbers or Permanent Resident Card Numbers for everyone living in the household.

-Most recent heating bill or verification from landlord that heating expenses are included in the rent (i.e. lease agreements).

Income-eligible residents who do not meet the requirements for pre-registration (who are not elderly or disabled) may still apply for Subsidy LIHEAP benefits starting November 1 – December 10, 2021.  

COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT for 2021-2022 is underway. The results help determine the CSBG program budget for the upcoming year. We are needing a broad range of community members to complete the survey, so feel free to share. Your help is greatly appreciated. If you are a CKCAC Board member completing the survey, please choose board member.

Could you please go online and compete this survey for Central Kentucky Community Action? This survey is for our Community Needs Assessment for year 2021-2022.

The survey allows us to continue to have programs in our county. You can do this by clicking on the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MC3MDXP-21-22CNA

CKCATS is back up and running 90% trip capacity for the month of July 2021. This is very encouraging that we had such a rapid recovery from Covid-19 for clients requesting transportation.
August 2021 Covid cases seem to be sky rocketing and we already had news that the Senior Centers closed their doors once again on August 9th. We will still be transporting clients for the drive thru meals.
Hal Goode spoke with Sue Greenwell at LTADD about adding an additional medical trip each week to our 5 county area. The Seniors can book 2 medical trips per week, along with the daily Senior Center trips once per week.
CKCATS newest bus for Marion County is CK-127. It features a wrap with the Community Action logo and advertises our agency’s positions that are available.
We are still waiting on 3 SUV’s that were supposed to be delivered in February but was put on hold due to a chip malfunction at the automakers. That may also cause a hold in 5 other buses that have been ordered after we received funding from the 5339 grant, along with 4 additional buses that were funded by the 5311 CARES funding.

All senior centers re-opened to dine in meals on July 6, 2021. We continued to serve drive thru meals to those that were still uncomfortable with coming inside.
Unfortunately, Covid cases have spiked across the state forcing us to make the difficult decision to close our centers to the public once again. We are saddened to have to do this but we have to put the safety of our clients and staff first.
On August 9, 2021 all senior centers once again closed their doors and started serving meals via drive thru only.
If you know someone in need of a hot nutritious meal please have them call their local senior center to get started. Senior Center phone numbers can be found on our Central Kentucky Community Action Facebook page or on our website at www.ckcac.org
In the month of July there were 5,117 meals served to 416 unduplicated clients. We also slowly started our Bingocize sessions at a couple of locations. We provided 49 sessions to 21 clients in July. We will continue to do Bingocize outdoors, weather permitting, drive in style until we can once again re-open our centers.
We would like to congratulate Grayson County Senior Center cook, Mary Schwartz on the birth of her son born on July 28, 2021. We would also like to welcome Leslie Breeding to our Congregate Meal team. Leslie will step up to the head cook position at Grayson County. If you know someone who could use our service please call us anytime.

Central Kentucky Community Action’s Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is looking for more volunteers. The only requirements are that the volunteers must be 55 or older and have a desire to volunteer their time and skills for a non-profit organization in Hardin or Nelson County.

Volunteering can provide many benefits to both mental and physical health.       

Volunteering helps counteract the effects of stress, anger, and anxiety.   

Volunteering combats depression and loneliness.     

 Volunteering makes you happy and keeps you active.      

Volunteering increases self-confidence.    

 Volunteering provides a sense of purpose. 

If you would like more information on what volunteer opportunities are available and the benefits of being a RSVP volunteer, please contact Melissa Bland at 270-737-1059 or RSVP.Director@ckcac.org.  

Director Tommy Wheatley with Kentucky Works/SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) & I recently attended the Lincoln Trail Annual Workforce Summit that was held as a virtual event. It was a great opportunity to hear from local community members, business owners, hiring managers, service provider educators and others that are interested in making our workforce stronger.
Why would Central Kentucky Community Action Council follow this? As we move out of COVID-19 it is as important now as ever to break any barrier for someone looking for an occupation. Of course, a candidate needs to have the necessary skills to excel in the position, but maybe it’s time to look more closely at your hiring policies to help broaden applicant potential so your pool becomes much bigger. Here is just one common barrier you might consider tackling to facilitate. One example. Transportation. If you can’t get to work, you can’t hold down a job. If you can’t get to an interview, you can’t get a job in the first place. It could be a lack of transportation from a remote location, getting to work is a major barrier for many otherwise employable professionals.  Here at CKCAC we have always suggested the option of our CATS Transportation for that ride to an occupation.  Just another resource to break a barrier.
Thanks to the Lincoln Trail Workforce Development Board for being increasingly engaged in the business of collaboration, convening and partnership. More to come, much more……………..