Join KFTC's delegation to a conference and day of action focused on transition and the future of Appalachia. The events aim to advance the dialogue about current energy extraction practices, with a specific focus on ending mountaintop removal coal mining, and advocate for a renewable energy future for Appalachia on a national stage

"We envision a vibrant weekend during which thousands will learn about the challenges Appalachia faces and ways to build a movement to end the destruction and plant the seeds of a sustainable and prosperous Appalachia," said the organizers of the events.

The conference, entitled Voices from the Mountains, will be held on September 25-26, 2010. Organizers of the Voices from the Mountain conference are planning a space for regional participants to grow and connect through strategy sessions, workshops, learning, and cultural events. Topics will include both exploration of the issues facing the region and ways to move forward.

The day following the conference, September 27th, many people from the Appalachian region will gather with conference attendees for a day of mobilization and rallying on Capitol Hill. 2000 people, including movement leaders from the region, celebrities such as Ashley Judd and Silas House, and many Appalachian residents are expected to gather.

Click here to sign up or learn more.

WHAT IS THE DREAM ACT?

The DREAM Act is a piece of practical but fair bipartisan legislation that would help undocumented immigrant youth legalize their status by completing a set of strict criteria. DREAM stands for the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors and would apply to immigrant children, regardless of their country of origin, who entered the United States before their 16th birthday, who have lived here 5 consecutive years, who graduate from high school or get their GED, and who have good moral character (no felony charges). Students who fit these criteria would be given a temporary resident status and could move toward permanent residency if and only if they complete two years of college or military service. Students who qualify with the initial criteria would be able to get in-state tuition, get a driver’s license and work legally within the United States. They would also qualify for federal financial aid in the form of loans and work study

The DREAM Act is making great progress! We have 54 of the 60 votes we need in the Senate but we have to keep the pressure up and to do that we need funds! Please come out to El Mariachi Monday May 17th. They will donate a 18% of sales derived from DREAM Act supporters to the DREAM Act campaign. Bring your friends and family, eat, enjoy, write DREAM Act on your check. 

On April 30th, the central Kentucky chapter of KFTC held a chili-cook off friendraiser. What's a friendraiser you ask? Well it's an opportunity to raise money for the organization but with a focus on giving members a chance to hang out with one another, celebrate all of our hard work, and just have a darn good time.

The event was held at the Lexington Friends meeting house on Price street. Six folks entered chili into the contest and nearly forty people came out to partake in the deliciousness.

The chili was fantastic, and incredibly diverse. There were chilis w/ sirloin, turkey and chicken, as well as two vegan options. One chili even had cornbread baked right into it!

I'm not surprised that folks put such effort into their entries considering the prize for first place! The winner of the event took home a copy of the beautiful hard covered book about mountain top removal mining plundering appalachia, a gift certificate for a one-hour massage, and a dinner for two from Stella's Kentucky deli.

Our three wonderful judges that evening are each KFTC members with a keen sense of what makes a good chili. Member Chris Oaks who hails from the Cincinatti area explained to the contestants that what he looks for in a chili is "depth,"while Danielle Boucher who is a newer member and a UK undergraduate explained that she looks for "kick." Our third judge, Marty Mudd who is active on KFTC's land reform committee and also a member of Kentucky mountain justice informed us that he would be looking for a chili w/ "many layers."  

Our winner that evening was long time KFTC member Teresa McReynolds with her sirloin chili. However, in my opinion everyone was a winner considering there wasn't a drop of chili left by the end of the night! In addition to the cook off we also held a raffle. Tickets were $1 and raffle items were donated by several local businesses including Stella's Kentucky Deli, The Morris Book Shop, Woodland Computers, and Charmed Life Tattoo. We also had two professional massages donated by Nishaan Sandhu and Phil Robinson.

It was a rockin' good time and we ended up raising almost $280. Thanks to everyone who came out, to all the businesses and individuals who donated raffle items, to everyone who entered chili, and a special thanks to our intern Jordan Panning for coming up with the idea and organizing the event. We'll be sure to do it again next year!

During our last two chapter meetings we’ve hosted a skill-share, where members had the opportunity to learn from one another a new skill. In February our skill-share focused on blogging , and in March we had a lively discussion about people’s experiences with civil disobedience and direct-action.

We’ve also hit the ground running with KFTC’s New Power Leader Program. New Power Leaders are citizens who are committed to increasing KFTC’s power through working to organize and empower their own communities. So far we have seven folks committed to the New Power Leader Program. We had our first new power potluck on Friday March 6th where we were able to eat drink and be merry, as well as discuss different organizing skills we’d like to learn and how to get started working in our communities.

On April 6th, four CKY members met with Lexington-Fayette urban county council person Linda Gorton to share their concerns about how EKPC's proposed Smith Plant could negatively impact Lexington's air and water.

Finally, we’ve got a ton of stuff in the works. Next Thursday, April 14th we’re co-hosting a candidate forum for the folks running for Lexington city council (specifically the 1st district and the at-large candidates). We’re also working on a friendraiser at the end of the month that will focus on a chili cook off for justice!

If you’re interested in getting involved in any of these activities, please contact the central Kentucky organizer at ondine@kftc.org.

As part of this year’s “I Love Mountains” day, more than 20 KFTC young people – all between the ages of 5 and 25 – met with five members of Governor Beshear’s staff.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss concerns about the harm that mountaintop removal coal mining creates as well as talk about creating a transition towards a clean and sustainable energy economy.  The KFTC meeting was entirely youth-planned and youth-led.

Six-year old Makayla Urias from Pike County shared what it is like living next to a mountaintop removal operation.  She talked about her polluted water, being scared from the large blasting noises, and having to cover her face when going outside because of the dust pollution.  She even brought some of her dirty water to share with the Governor’s office. 

The young KFTC members presented scientific information about the pollution and destruction created by mountaintop removal coal mining.  They also presented information about the economic benefits and jobs that could be created in Eastern Kentucky and the rest of the state if Kentucky chose to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy alternatives.

The group used a large board to list the questions they asked the administration with a space to mark answers they received as a “yes”, “no”, or “waffle.”  By the end of the meeting, the group received a commitment to meeting with Governor Beshear within a month.  The youth delegation is excited to begin preparing to meet with Governor Beshear.  They are even talking about having their next planning meeting over waffles! 

Below is a complete summary of their questions and responses received.

1.) Will Governor Beshear support S.B. 139 and H.B. 416, the Stream Saver Bill?
    Answer:  Waffle

2.) Will the Governor create and announce a plan to end mountaintop removal and valley fills coal mining?
    Answer:  No

3.) Will Governor Beshear support H.B. 408, the Clean-Energy bill?
   Answer:  ? (Will get back to us soon once they study the bill – stay tuned for their response.)

4.) Will the Governor begin working vigorously to create new, green jobs and a new clean energy economy in Kentucky, especially for coal-producing areas and workers?
    Answer:  Yes

5.) Will Governor Beshear meet with KFTC – within a month – to talk about mountaintop removal and Kentucky’s clean energy future?
    Answer:  Yes

Here is a 7-minute video summary of their meeting.  Click on the video to watch it.

KFTC youth-led "I Love Mountains" meeting with Governor Beshear from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

Here is a 2-minute video summary of just the discussion around renewable energy possibilities in Kentucky.

"Renewable is Doable" KFTC youth meeting with Beshear Administration from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth strongly believes that we need better candidates if we want better decisions made in state and local government – and we want YOU to seriously think about what it would be like to run for office or to help one of your friends run.

Come to a powerful, energetic weekend at the beautiful Hindman Settlement School where we’ll build skills, connections, and confidence to work on elections or run for public office.

Led in partnership with Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development for progressives, workshops topics will include campaign planning and budgeting, telling your story, grassroots voter contact, fundraising, base-building, stump speeches, developing a winning message and more.

For more information and to register online, Click Here.

     

Sixteen Kentuckians with KFTC and our allies at KY Jobs With Justice have been in Nevada for the last several days at a big convening of the PUSHBACK Network.  Over 160 members and staff from PUSHBACK ally organizations gathered to make connections between our various grassroots base-building organizations so we can learn from eachother, particularly around voter empowerment campaigns to educate and mobilize voters in our respective states.  

It's an honor and a privilege to be here and to share with this group.  It's about meeting people and really coming together to build the world we want to see. - Tayna Fogle, Kenton County

    

Workshops included pieces on the US Census, inter-generational organizing, integrating voter work with issue work, fundraising, green jobs, voter list management, and tax and fiscal policy.  There was also a strong emphasis on peer-to-peer learning - making connections between organizations and members to lead to more exchanges and learning in the future.

"The networking here is great," said Jim Shepard of Perry County. 

I'm just so proud of Kentucky!  This is a powerful coalition and we're really representing our state and leading so much of it." - Angela Rudd, Louisville

"I thought this was really great," said Janet Tucker of Lexington.  "I still have so many questions."

"There's also a lot of work to get done," added Sean Thomas.  "But we're better equipped and motivated to do it!"

KFTC members living in Scott County have stepped-up in recent months to build our local campaign to restore voting rights to former felons.  Scott County members are especially influential in this issue because they are constituents of Senator Damon Thayer, chair of the State and Local Government Committee.

We've had small kitchen-table meetings, class presentations, conversations between members, and a few larger events like tabling at the Pete Seeger concert on Georgetown's campus a few weeks ago.  Scott County members have also been involved in all three of the meetings we've had with Senator Damon Thayer on this issue earlier during the legislative session.

Last night, we had our first ever KFTC Voting Rights Community Meeting in Georgetown, bringing everyone together to meet each other for the first time, develop an identity as a group, and plan more events.

Seventeen folks attended, including two former felons, three mothers of former felons, African American community representation, college professors, new folks, long-time KFTC members coming to their first meeting, and more.

"There are a lot of challenging public issues in which you have to carefully weigh the pros and the cons.  This issue is different in that I just don't see any cons.  There's no reason for us not to be able to give these people the right to vote."                   - Linda Kubala, Scott County

We spent a lot of time talking about the Voting Rights issue, the path to win a constitutional amendment, the importance of Scott County in the fight, and some tentative ideas about what we can do locally to win.  

"I have a young son who is incarcerated...  When he comes out of prison, I want him to be able to make and impact - a real positive impact - on his community.  He needs to be able to start by being a part of his community and to be able to vote and that's why I'm here tonight" - Elwanda McNeal, Scott County

  

  

Eager to keep going, they pushed to schedule their big next meeting *next week* - just seven days from now on Thursday, June 4th at 6:30pm at the Ed Davis Learning Center - 151 Ed Davis Ln, Georgetown. 

   Bowling Green KFTC Members met with new Kentucky Senator Mike Reynolds earlier today, as part of a broader resolution by KFTC to spend more time building relationships with legislators outside of the annual General Assembly sessions near the start of each year.

   Apart from just teaching Senator Reynolds about KFTC's background, members talked about local issues including housing problems and our issues in the state legislature, including the Streamsaver bill.

Reynolds was very aware of the legal system in Bowling Green with respect to landlords and tenant law, said member Dana Beasley-Brown.  "It'll be really useful to keep that conversation going, including what kinds of legislation we can pass on a statewide level to make things safer for renters here."

   Members also thanked Reynold for his support of HB 70 to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

It was really important to have your vote on the Senate committee for that," said Greg Capillo.  "We hope to bring the bill back to you next year and get a hearing from the Chairman so we can pass it."

  

   

   This was the first time some of the nine KFTC members who made it out to the meeting had ever lobbied a legislator.

He was really frank and easy to relate to and it was great to work on building a relationship with him," said Kristen Houser.  "It was easy and we should do this kind of thing more often."

   Bowling Green KFTC members will have the opportunity to meet with another legislator quite soon, actually.  They have a meeting with Congressman Brett Guthrie tomorrow morning.

This past Thursday, Central KY KFTC members gathered to celebrate another great year, to enjoy some music and good food, and unwind.

    

This is event is part of a proud tradition of rightly-earned relaxation and celebration going including last year, but going back 10 years or more in the chapter's history.