Here are some videos that cover a part of the Georgetown Singing for Democracy event a few weeks ago. 

Thanks to Rick Traud, of the Northern KY KFTC Chapter for taking a crack at videotaping this even though he'd never used the video camera before.

Scott County KFTC members had a tremendous Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest in Georgetown last night with about 150 people happily crammed into the Ed Davis Learning Center to listen to some great gospel music and to educate each other on how we can work to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their time.

The program included powerful singers like Chris Willis, Lonnie Cowan, Margaret Sweat, and Maria Houghton, local religious leaders like Rev Joseph Jackson and Rev Rodney Mason, and former felons from Georgetown and elsewhere taking the mic to tell their stories.  One act was even the local cheer leading group the Mud Turtles. 

Event participants also got to see a big preview of the voting rights digital stories film by Seed Lynn through the Highlander Center's Zilphia Horton Project. 

The Georgetown News-Graphic was also at the event and we're looking forward to seeing the story in the next few days.

We've had similar events in Louisville and Lexington over the last 9 months, but this Singing For Democracy was special because of where it was. Senator Damon Thayer, the Chair of the State and Local Government Committee is the individual most responsible for blocking a bill to restore voting rights to former felons in recent years - and Georgetown is his hometown. 

Scott County KFTC members used the process of organizing the event  to bring together churches and individuals in a key communities to raise awareness of felony disenfranchisement.  We had numerous planning meetings and outreach events for the event, including going door-to-door, visiting churches, tabling at basketball games, and posting flyers.   

“Forgiveness, loving your neighbor, compassion - If we truly believed all of that, then we wouldn’t have to have this discussion about whether former felons can vote or not.   God is always watching – and we’d better make this right.”

                       – Tayna Fogle, former felon, and key event organizer

Special Thanks To:
The Brighton Center, People Advocating Recovery, Connie Willis, Steppin To A New Beat participants, Ed Davis Learning Center, Never Alone, Scott County NAACP, Catholic Conference, ACLU, Key Conversations (1580 AM), King Cobras, Lexington Nightwhawks, Brothers Unite, Regulators, Recovery Voices Count, Highlander Center, Chronic Pain Support, and all of the members of the Boston Community in Georgetown!

Scott County KFTC members are going straight from this event to their first Annual Meeting Chapter Meeting this Thursday (August 5th) at 7pm at Saints Francis and John Catholic Parish on Main Street in Georgetown.  Chapter members are looking forward to having some new faces at the meeting on account of the big event.  If you're in the area, please consider joining them.

Even if you couldn't make it out to Singing For Democracy, you can still make an impact on this issue from home!

Call 1-800-372-7181 to leave a message for your legislators.  The Legislative Message Line is open 8am to 4:30pm Monday – Friday. 

Leave a message for Senator Damon Thayer.  At the same time, you can also leave a message for Senators David Williams and Robert Stivers, plus your own Senator and Representative.

A simple message like "I support voting rights for former felons" works.

We had a great planning meeting last night for in Scott County for their upcoming Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest, an event to rally the community together to restore voting rights to former felons.

Final acts and publicity plans are coming together and we have a strong set of outreach events over the next week leading up to Saturday (calendar below).  You can also download a copy of the Flyer or Handbill of the event by clicking the link - and then pass them out to friends or members of your church on Sunday. 

One big piece of news is that we've decided to premier our voting rights digital stories video at the Gospel Fest - a piece recently shot by Seed Lynn as part of a project with the Highlander Center.

Although the event is primarily for Scott County, some members from  Northern Kentucky, Lexington, Grant County, Owen County, Frankfort, and other nearby places are planning to come as well, so feel free to join us from out of town.  

Singing For Democracy Publicity Events:

- Sunday, July 25th – Whistle-stop tour of Georgetown Churches to invite them out to the Gospel Fest (contact Tayna Fogle at 859-699-8073 for more information)

- Tuesday, July 27th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.
- Thursday, July 29th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.

for more information about this event, contact Tayna Fogle at 859-699-8073 or Dave Newton at 859-420-8919 or Dave@kftc.org

Later this month, on Saturday, July 31st, we'll have our third Singing For Democracy event, this one in Georgetown, at 5pm at the Ed Davis Learning Center (140 Ed Davis Ln, Georgetown). 

We've had Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest in Lexington and Louisville in the past seven months, each bringing choirs and former felons together to fight felony disenfranchisement in the names of justice, faith, forgiveness, recovery, and music. 

Nearly 600 people have attended the Louisville or Lexington events and we're hoping to organize a large group to come out in Scott County, partially because that is the home town of Senator Damon Thayer, the man who has so far refused to hear our bill to re-enfranchise former felons who have served their debt to society. 

This should be a powerful event that brings together local church choirs and others to talk about Voting Rights in Thayer's hometown. 

And here are some smaller events to help plan and publicize it.  If you can come out to these, it would be a big help, particularly if you live in Scott County.

- July 15th – Scott Co Singing For Democracy Planning Meeting - 7pm, outside of the Ed Davis Learning Center.
- July 22nd – Scott Co Singing For Democracy Planning Meeting - 7pm, outside of the Ed Davis Learning Center.
- Sunday, July 25th – Whistle-stop tour of Churches to invite them out to the Gospel Fest
- Tuesday, July 27th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.
- Thursday, July 29th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.

for more information about this event, contact Tayna Fogle at 859-699-8073 or Dave Newton at 859-420-8919 or Dave@kftc.org

We've just launched new kftc.org chapter pages for both our new Scott County Chapter and our Northern KY Chapter. 

We'll continue to add to them over the course of the next few weeks with input from the members of both chapters and the pages will stay active with feeds from both our blog and calendar of events.

About thirty people gathered in Georgetown this weekend to speak out in favor of restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.  

The demonstration of KFTC members and friends happened just outside of Canewood Golf Course in Georgetown during a fundraiser hosted by Senator Damon Thayer, the person most directly responsible for holding up legislation that would enfranchise former felons.

The Georgetown News-Graphic covered the event with a great story and all of the people in the neighborhood who stopped to talk to us were very supportive - including one woman who lived in the neighborhood who had a brother who is a former felon.

KFTC members in both the Scott County and Northern Kentucky chapters say they will continue to put pressure on Senator Thayer to allow HB 70 to come to a vote until he does the right thing. 

Scott County KFTC members will follow up this event with a monthly chapter meeting this Thursday (7pm at St. John Church) and are planning a big Gospel Fest event focused on Voting Rights on Saturday, July 31st at 5pm at the Ed Davis Learning Center

Northern KY KFTC members are planning a series of community tabling events in Southern Kenton County - also part of Thayer's district. 

Thanks to Bree Tracy for taking the fantastic photos of the event!

   Ground Organizing in Scott County is still going strong.  Members had a very productive meeting this past week in which we spent a lot of time learning about the Owen Rural Electric Co-op race in which two KFTC members are running.  We scheduled a series of door-to-door canvassing and other activities to help spread the word. 

   We also spent some time talking about how to continue to do great community organizing around our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.  The largest idea that emerged was to organize a Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest, much like the one that brought over 400 people out in Lexington last year.  This one will be focused in the Boston Community of Georgetown and will include church choirs and other acts, mostly from Scott County. 

Upcoming Scott County KFTC Events:

- Thursday, June 10th - First planning meeting for Scott County Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest to raise awareness of our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons.  Please come if you can, and bring your ideas of what local choirs should be a part of the program, how we can advertise it, etc.   Meeting at 6pm, we'll be meeting at the Lock and Key (Main St, Georgetown).
- Saturday, June 12th - Door-to-door canvassing for Tona and Dallas's Owen Electric Co-op race.  If you'd like to join us, please email Dave Newton at Dave@kftc.org
- Sunday, June 13th – Voter Empowerment Strategy Team Meeting 2pm-6pm in Lexington.
- Saturday, June 19th - Door-to-door canvassing for Tona and Dallas's Owen Electric Co-op race.  If you'd like to join us, please email Sara Pennington at Sara@kftc.org
- Tuesday, June 22-26 – Social Forum, Detroit
- Friday, June 25th – Damon Thayer’s Golf Fundraiser, Georgetown.  More info TBA.
- Friday, June 25th – Owen County Electric Annual Meeting, Grant County High school, Dry Ridge, 4:30pm-7pm.
- Thursday, July 1st – Scott KFTC Chapter Meeting - 7pm
- Friday, July 9-10 – Bowling Green Statewide Steering Committee Meeting
- Saturday, July 24 – Georgetown Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest
- Thursday, August 5th – Scott KFTC Chapter Annual Meeting - 7pm

Our bill to Restore Voting Rights for most Former Felons who have served their debt to society has come a long way in recent years.  Let's take a moment to take a step back and plan the road ahead which includes a lot of action in 2011, but really critical organizing in 2010 to get ready for it.

In the simplest terms, we have seven steps in front of us:

1. Build Grassroots Power - Develop leaders, collect postcards and petitions, register voters, build alliances, and educate the public about Voting Rights.

2. House Committee - Pass the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee in the first few weeks of the legislative session in February of 2011.

3. House Floor - Pass a 60% super-majority vote of the House in February of 2011. 

4. Senate Committee - Pass the Senate State and Local Government Committee in February or March of 2011.  We will need to put a lot of pressure on Senate leadership and Committee chair Damon Thayer to accomplish this. 

5. Senate Floor - Pass a 60% super-majority vote of the Senate in February or March of 2011.

(March 2011-November 2012. Secure in the knowledge that we will be on the ballot in 2012, we'll create a massive ground campaign to organize communities across the state and educate and mobilize leading up to election day.  We will also use the two primary elections and 2011 General Elections to build our collective electoral skills and power.)

6. General Election - November 6th, 2012.  We’ll need around 991,000 yes votes to ratify our constitutional amendment, including 50,000 people KFTC will mobilize directly, along with tens of thousands more mobilized by our allies.

7. Former Felons Vote – Starting in 2014.  Our goal is ultimately for many of Kentucky’s 186,000 currently disenfranchised citizens to get out and take-part in our democracy – to provide more representation for low-income and people of color communities and to generally make our democracy stronger.  To this end, we need to include former felons in the campaign and build ownership at every step.

Note that we’ve gotten through the third step in three consecutive years and have laid the groundwork to get much further in the Senate.

Almost all of these steps are in 2011, but the first and continuous step of building grassroots support is absolutely necessary and it’s something we have to be doing now in all of our communities across the state, particularly in key Senate areas to help in steps 4 and 5. 

Election Day is here!

We're a little more than half-way through, with good ground work happening all over the state.

In Bowling Green, folks are making the last of their voter mobilization calls.

In Louisville, we just had a big voter mobilization motorcade, go through four neighborhoods, reminding people to vote.

Folks there are also still making voter mobilization calls and giving rides to the polls.  

In Eastern Kentucky, Perry County members are investigating a vote-buying scheme in the county from which several people say they've received $20 for a pledge to vote for particular candidates.  We've been notifying authorities to try to get them shut down.  The Lexington Herald-Leader is running a piece about vote-buying reports all over the state.  More on this soon.

In Lexington, two members are making calls to our member list, reminding them to get out and vote.

In Scott County, members passed out Voter Guides on Main St in the morning and are making a few of their last calls.

In Northern Kentucky, folks are passing out Voter Guides and getting ready for their big Chapter Formation meeting tonight at 7pm.

In Madison County, we've been passing out voter guides, and giving out the phone number to the local cab company who's giving out free rides to the polls. 

  

  

Yesterday, Saturday, May 15 was a pretty unremarkable day in most respects.  For us, collectively as Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, there wasn't anything singularly huge on the calendar, but we decided to try to compile quick stories about a lot of little things that happened throughout the day and present them as this - A Day in the Life of KFTC. 

At 7 a.m. KFTC members in northern Kentucky came together outside of Ockerman Middle School in Florence to start setting up tables for the big Relay for Life yard sale.  Alex Searles organized the KFTC table, but eight members participated in all, selling items that they donated to the  cause and passing out information about KFTC.  They also invited those interested to the big NKY KFTC Chapter Formation meeting on Tuesday.  By the end of the event at 4 p.m., they brought in $150 and made a lot of key contacts with new people.  Members also left with KFTC Voter Guides to hand out over the next few days.

At 10 a.m. the KFTC booth at the Butchertown Art Fair in Louisville got rolling.  Many of the candidates for mayor were there and most of them dropped by the KFTC table to say hello.  The event was in a neighborhood where KFTC does a lot of work, so many people at the festival  recognized us, and cheered for KFTC.  It gave a lot of our members who don't volunteer with us every month a chance to drop by and plug into our work.  A few people said they'd been meaning to join KFTC and took membership envelopes or joined on the spot.  Others asked about voting locations and we made lists of people to call back on Monday with that information.   Nine hours later, at 7 p.m., we packed up and headed home. 

At 10:30 a.m. a workshop started at the Pine Mountain Sustainability Symposium on "Steps Towards Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" the workshop was facilitated by KFTC leaders Carl Shoupe and Roy Silver, among others.  This was just one of many events our members participated in throughout the powerful three-day conference designed to bring together specialists, practitioners, educators, and organizers to share their experiences and learn about model projects throughout southeastern Kentucky.  The symposium included hands-on trainings, workshops, woodland hikes, and garden tours with local and regional experts working on food, energy, and forest issues.

At noon, Tyler Birdwhistell and Bethany Baxter met in downtown Georgetown to go door-to-door in the Scroggin Park Housing Authority neighborhood - passing out KFTC Voter Guides and letting people know where their voting location is.   After about two hours, they had covered half of the neighborhood, which was enough for a couple of us to come back the next day and finish it up in an hour and a half. 

"I ran into one woman who is a former felon - so she'd had her right to vote taken away from her when she was much younger.  She told me the she worked for years to get her right to vote back and that she almost gave up a few times.  But she got them back during the Patton administration and has voted ever since." - Tyler Birdwhistell

At 3 p.m. a small group of KFTC folks visited the Peace and Global Citizenship Fair at Bluegrass Community Technical College in Lexington.  It was a great event organized by BCTC’s Students for Peace and Earth Justice.  For our part, we canvassed the crowd with a big stack of KFTC Voter Guides, asking people to cast an informed vote on Tuesday.  Kudos to BCTC’s Students for Peace and Earth Justice for putting together a great event that is getting a bit bigger every year. 

At 4 p.m. the Madison County KFTC members kicked off their Spring Friendraiser, with more than 70 people enjoying a potluck, cornhole and games, a great silent auction, live music by Mudpi, a short program about the awesome work of KFTC, and apparently a game that involved more than a little rolling around in the mud.  Members brought in $700 in donations and had a lot of fun before winds picked up and a hailstorm heralded an early end to the event.  We'll likely have a separate blog entry on this exciting event in the next few days, so stay tuned.  

In addition to all of that, members ran voter mobilization phone banks throughout the day in Bowling Green, Louisville, and in at-large (non-chapter) areas of the state, to name a few places, and members passed out KFTC Voter Guides or handbills about the election at events and in their neighborhoods throughout the commonwealth.  

No doubt, our 6,000+ members across the state accomplished an awful lot in the name of social justice on Saturday that will never make it to this blog - conversations with neighbors, writing letters to elected officials, etc.

It's a lot of little things, but this was just one day.  And day after day in community after community, it adds up.  So keep at it folks. 

What can we do tomorrow?