The Central KY Chapter of KFTC is fortunate to have three great interns this semester to help deepen our grassroots organizing effort while bringing our people-power to bear on legislative goals in the General Assembly and learning a lot while doing it.  These interns are John Ghaelian, Joe Gallenstein, and Danny Cotton.

Each are from the University of Kentucky and are involved in chapter activities as well as the UK KFTC organization and many other ally organizations.

Joe Gallenstein hopes to focus his internship on Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons, organizing at-home events to build support for HB 70 and the eventual ballot vote to ratify the Constitutional Amendment. 

I think it’s really important for UK students to know what their peers are going through – what other students, friends, family, and others of the 186,000 former felons live with – and then how we can help them, said Joe. 

Danny Cotton is focusing his internship on in-person lobbying in Frankfort and is looking forward to lobbying for the first time and joining the ranks of KFTC’s veteran citizen lobbyists. 

I’m especially excited about the big lobby days like I Love Mountains Day coming up,” said Danny.  “I think we can bring a lot of people out and make a lasting impression on the senators and representatives.

John Ghaelian will concentrate his internship on influencing the General Assembly on a range of issues and wants to learn a lot more about how KFTC does long-term Leadership Development and how we can develop student leaders.

My biggest hope is that we can bring tons of students to Frankfort to make a big impact on the legislature – especially young people who don’t think of themselves as being able to make a difference on that level, said John.