KENTUCKY YOUTH ADVOCATES - Media Release

For Immediate Release

February 5, 2008

Contact:

Jenessa Bryan

502-895-8167 ext. 115

cell: 502-451-0863

Lacey McNary

502-895-8167 ext. 117

cell: 502-419-7335

Terry Brooks

502-895-8167 ext. 113

cell: 502-235-2396

YOUTH TO UNVEIL BLUEPRINT FOR KENTUCKY’S CHILDREN

AT CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY DAY AT THE CAPITOL

Citizens Join Forces to Ask Governor Beshear and Legislators: “Is It Good for Kentucky’s Kids?”

Frankfort, KY- Over 600 Kentuckians from thirty-three Kentucky child advocacy organizations will join youth from Harlan, Fayette and Jefferson Counties, in Frankfort on Thursday, February 7, for Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol. They will urge legislators to invest in Kentucky’s children when making budget decisions this session. Youth from Harlan and Jefferson Counties will unveil the policy Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children at a 10:00 am rally in the Capitol Rotunda.

The Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children is a statewide initiative to create a six-year strategic agenda to improve child well-being in Kentucky.  The three policy goals of the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children are:

1. Safe and Healthy Families
2. Fair Opportunity for Every Child
3. Fair Deal for Working Parents

Business leaders, child advocates, parents, child care providers, locally elected leaders, educators, health and human service professionals, and youth will travel from across the state to meet with legislators and deliver “Kentucky Children’s Dollars” that pose the question, “Is it Good for Kentucky’s Kids?” The symbolic dollars highlight the need for adequate funding of all children’s programs including preventing child abuse, neglect, and domestic violence; advancing children’s health, ensuring child safety, and ensuring accessible, affordable, and quality early childhood services.

“We believe that the essential and unconventional question that faces the Governor and Kentucky’s legislators actually is not about money.  The essential question is about priorities. The Blueprint argues that children and families have to take precedence over polar bear exhibits and bricks and mortar projects.  It is that simple and that complicated,” asserts Terry Brooks, Executive Director of Kentucky Youth Advocates.

Hundreds of citizens from over 70 counties will later assemble on the steps up to the House and Senate chambers at 1:45 p.m. as legislators go into session to remind them about the importance of children’s services in the state and to send the message that we need additional investments in children.

Groups sponsoring Children’s Advocacy Day on February 7 include:

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids
• Child Care Council of Kentucky
• Children’s Alliance
• Children, Inc.
• Citizen’s Foster Care Review Board
• Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C)
• Community Partnership for Protecting Children
• Court Appointed Special Advocates
• Eastern Kentucky Child Care Coalition
• Family Resource & Youth Services Coalition of Kentucky
• Generations United
• Girl Scouts Wilderness Road Council Inc.
• Holly Hill Children's Services
• Home of the Innocents
• Kentucky Association for Early Childhood Education
• Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs
• Kentucky Child Now
• Kentucky Congress of Parents and Teachers
• Kentucky Domestic Violence Association
• Kentucky Head Start Association
• Kentucky Mental Health Coalition - Advocacy Action Network
• Kentucky Partnership for Families and Children Inc.
• Kentucky Pediatric Society
• Kentucky Youth Advocates
• Kosair Children’s Hospital
• LexLinc
• Metro United Way
• NECCO
• Norton Healthcare
• Parent Voice
• Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky
• Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
• United Way of Greater Cincinnati
• United Way of Kentucky
• United Way of the Bluegrass

For more information on Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol visit http://www.kyyouth.org.

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