Kentucky Youth Advocates and partners from across the Commonwealth have launched the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children’s 2021 policy and budget priorities.
The Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children is a coalition of nonprofit, public, and private organizations that stands on three pillars: thriving communities launch strong families, strong families launch successful kids, and successful kids launch a prosperous future for Kentucky.
As the Commonwealth works to overcome the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and address systemic racism, the Blueprint speaks with a common voice to create brighter futures for all Kentucky kids and their families. The policy and budget priorities on the Blueprint’s 2021 agenda keep that charge in mind.
The Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children 2021 priorities span expanding child care options, improving the juvenile justice system, continuing efforts to curb youth tobacco use, minimizing the impact of parental incarceration on children, and beyond. Kentucky kids and families also need a strong state budget that invests in infrastructure to close the digital divide, sustains funding for the Medicaid and KCHIP programs, increases funds for family preservation programming, and more.
For more information on each of the priorities, view the 2021 Policy Priorities Fact Sheets.
“Every Kentucky child – no matter their zip code, family income level, or color of their skin – is relying on their leaders in Frankfort to prioritize their needs in pandemic recovery efforts,” said Terry Brooks, executive director, Kentucky Youth Advocates. “As we noted in the latest Kentucky KIDS COUNT County Data Book, too many families across the Commonwealth were struggling prior to COVID-19, and those trends will only continue to be exacerbated by the ripple effects of the pandemic.
“It’s easy to focus on the toxicity of the political landscape, but for the Kentucky House and Senate as well as the Beshear administration, we believe kids are the common ground that will result in tangible actions for families by the final gavel in 2021.”
Each year, Blueprint partners and advocates from across Kentucky bring attention to Blueprint priorities in Frankfort at the annual Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol.
For 2021, in anticipation of the need to reduce crowd sizes and because one day is not enough for this important advocacy, we are hosting virtual advocacy events through the week of Feb. 1–5, 2021.
Kentucky Youth Advocates