• Our Ready for K Alliance’s Family and Caregiver Engagement Action Network is planning the third in its series of professional development training sessions. This session will be focused on resources and tools that JCPS offers families whose primary language is not English.
• Our Ready for K Alliance’s Access and Quality Action Network is developing phase two of the quality improvement initiative for center-based child care providers in the Russell Neighborhood. Implementing a Community of Practice model, partners are building an initiative that is dedicated to improving the quality, availability, and accessibility of child care that is culturally responsive and based on the expressed needs of the providers it will serve.
• Ready for K Alliance’s Spring Quarterly meeting was held on Thursday, March 16 with over 50 people attending virtually and in-person. This is the first quarterly meeting with an in-person option since March 2020. It was great to see many of the partners back together that are working together to align strategies and improve early educational attainment.
• In partnership with Community Coordinated Childcare (4-C) and Child Care Aware, our ASQ team is conducting a landscape survey  of child care providers to determine how organizations are utilizing the ASQ. In addition, the data will be compared to the landscape survey done in 2018 to determine the impact of our efforts on building the capacity of community partners to administer the ASQ.
• Our ASQ team has been working to find both financial and emotional supports for a family that has been facing evection for several months. We received an email this week that the parent has found a new home! We have begun helping them to find furnishing for the home.
• Our Youth Success RFP available to youth-serving organizations in Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, and Shelby counties in Kentucky and Clark, Floyd, and Harrison counties in Indiana received 108 completed applications with a total of $7 million requested investments for year one. Our staff and volunteers reviewed applications, scores, and made recommendations to our Community Impact Cabinet this week for investment recommendations to help ensure every setting a young person encounters is adequately resourced and a safe place for them to succeed. We will notify all applicants whether receiving investments or not in April after Board approval.
• Our annual Annual Early Childhood Educators Celebration that celebrates early care and education leaders is scheduled for Thursday, March 30.
• We are participating and investing in Black Maternal Health Week which will be held April 11-April 17, 2023. More details to come.
• We are also participating in National Youth Violence Prevention Week and hosting a Youth Program Vendor Fair on Monday, March 27.

  

• We have successfully completed the first year of a wealth-building strategy in the California neighborhood in partnership with New Directions Housing Corporation by repairing 38 resident-owned homes in the neighborhood. More information about United Neighborhoods HERE.

  

• In Kentucky we saw the Senate and House pass: HB 165 relating to employee child care assistance; SB 135 that requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to make information on postpartum depression and assessment tool available on its website; and HJR 39 which addresses the benefits cliff in Kentucky.
• Our first cohort of Black entrepreneurs through our new partnership with FundBLACKFounders launched with an RFP and we are currently evaluating these organizations. This initiative will include coaching and support to assist with training, capacity-building, raising capital, and identifying customers.

  

• For the new American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition initiative, we will be serving in multiple roles: 1) leading the coordination of financial coaching support for individuals participating in workforce training; 2) connecting fundraising support to entrepreneurs from marginalized communities; and 3) coordinating consultation for employers to promote inviting workplaces for diverse populations. Read more about this $40 million investment in our community HERE.
• VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) sites are open for the tax season. Qualifying for one of the tax filing options is easy and simple! Visit this website for more information
• Volunteer-supported tax preparation program returns that are prepared and electronically filed (In order to qualify, your household income should be $66,000 or less). Please view 2023 Tax Preparation Sites Brochure to find a location and hours of operation for all tax services. There is never a charge for any of the volunteer-supported services. There are also options for preparing yourself. The self-file options are free as long as you meet the income qualifications. More information can be found here.
• The closing reception for Take This! A Photovoice exhibition on Friday, March 24, 5:00 – 8:00 pm at The Social Practice Lab located at 1229 S Shelby St. Louisville, Kentucky.

  

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• Our Farmers Feeding Families RFP is live and open to organizations that support food-related needs in Shelby County. Apply HERE. It will remain open through Friday, March 31.

  

• We are also working on full-scale needs assessments in Shelby and Oldham Counties. More details available soon.
• We are hosting a “Coffee with Adria” on Thursday, April 27 in Harrison County and highlighting United Community.
• In Kentucky we saw the Senate and House pass: HB 165 relating to employee child care assistance; SB 135 that requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to make information on postpartum depression and assessment tool available on its website; and HJR 39 which addresses the benefits cliff in Kentucky.
• We are working side by side with Mayor Greenberg and his team to ensure that Louisville continues its tradition of celebrating volunteer service during National Volunteer Month in April through Mayor’s Give A Day (MGAD) Celebration of Service. Learn more here: HERE. (WDRB | WLKY | Spectrum News)
• Nonprofit organizations across our region have posted volunteer projects for MGAD and more are being added every day. It is easy to find a volunteer project for you – simply follow these two steps: ​
  • 1. Visit mygiveaday.comto find a project that fits your interests and availability. Businesses, community groups, families, and individuals are encouraged to participate! ​
  • 2. Add your acts of service at mygiveaday.com. Whether you give an hour or a day, serve at an in-person or virtual project, or call and check on your neighbor, no act of service is too small to be counted!

• Thanks to our friends at Humana and UAW for volunteering events to create 92 tie-knot blankets, 400 healthy snack kits, and for writing “dear reader notes” for our Little Free Libraries.