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Policy makers are critical partners in promoting health, education, workforce development, and human services, so we actively engage, help educate, and advocate for good policy. And when you add your voice to our chorus, you make us that much louder and that much more effective.

Liberation Identification

A movement to implement a statewide program providing state-issued photo identification to all people leaving incarceration in Kentucky. #LiberationIdentification

To meet needs critical to survival and success upon reentry—including housing, employment, nutrition assistance, healthcare, mental health services, and substance use treatment—providers and employers require state-issued photo identification. The lack of one creates a barrier blocking the very first steps on a new path forward. We must implement a statewide program providing state-issued photo identification to all people leaving incarceration.

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Find your Voice

Metro United Way's
2021 Policy Agenda

EDUCATION, ECONOMIC MOBILITY & HEALTHY LIVES
Raise Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) reimbursement rates to ensure child care availability and affordability that allows parents to work, children to thrive in high-quality early childhood settings, and local economies to grow.

  • WIN: HB 4505—Increases the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) reimbursement rates $2 per child per day to ensure providers can remain viable while serving eligible families.
  • WIN: Secured and deployed $4.1 million of Jefferson County pandemic relief dollars to support child care providers and the families they serve (2020 through 2021). These resources supported a total of more than 300 child care providers.
Once reimbursement rates allow child care providers to maintain viability while participating in CCAP, align program eligibility for both market-based delivery and public early education programs for families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
Expand access to high-quality early childhood education through a diverse delivery model of preschools and community-based child care providers.

  • WIN SB 148—Amends local planning and zoning laws to allow regulated home-based family child care options to safely serve children in their neighborhoods
Ensure as many families as possible have access to evidence-based home visiting and parent support programs such as HANDS.
Improve and expand quality out-of-school-time programing, dropout prevention, and recovery.
Support greater availability of safe, affordable housing opportunities for people at all income levels.

  • WIN: Supported the passage of Louisville Metro Council Ordinance O-132-21, providing the right to legal counsel for low-income families with at least one child in eviction court
  • WIN: Supported the passage of Louisville Metro Council Ordinance O-395-19 expanding the existing fair housing law that prevents overt discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, family status, sexual orientation, etc., to include four additional protected classes—veteran status, homelessness, some felony convictions, and source of income (November 2020)
Improve access to reliable, quality healthcare programs and services.
Reduce barriers to vital short-term supports such as SNAP and TANF as well as important economic lifts like tax credits and programs like VITA.
Align public benefits with accessible application and renewal processes and gradual benefits phase outs instead of eligibility cliffs to encourage movement toward self-sufficiency.
Expand access to paid family and medical leave programs that support our community’s children, families, workforce, and economy.
Strengthen and expand access to the United Community information and referral platform. Promote data systems that encourage accountability and reduce duplication amongst providers for desired individual outcomes.
Implement equitable, common-sense justice reforms that reduce financial conditions of bail, increase pretrial services, and promote successful reentry from the judicial system while strengthening public safety, family outcomes, and individual opportunities.

  • WIN: HB 126–Increases the threshold for felony theft and several fraud offenses to better keep pace with inflation, modernization of the criminal legal system, and standard for proportionate consequences.
  • WIN: HB 497—Provides critical supports for successful and healthy reentry from incarceration, including ID documentation, employability certificates, Medicaid enrollment, and SNAP access.
  • WIN: SB 84 (Dignity Bill Part 2)—Provides vital supports for pregnant incarcerated people by ending solitary confinement during pregnancy, expanding pregnancy medical release to include community-based treatment for substance use disorder, and ensuring incarcerated women have access to social workers.
Support reforms that connect justice-involved children to family-focused services and prevent youth from entering and persisting in the justice system.

  • WIN: SB 32—Ends the automatic transfer of youth to adult court in certain situations, providing better access to speedier trials, more cost-effective and developmentally appropriate responses as well as rehabilitative supports and services.

 
SECTOR ISSUES
Preserve and protect the tax-exempt status of nonprofits.
Promote and support tax policy that empowers community solutions through nonprofits and encourages philanthropic giving through state and federal tax codes.

Resources

Health Impact Assessment of Expungement Policy in Kentucky

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