A traveling roadshow highlighting changes to Medicaid, Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program (KCHIP), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other public assistance programs comes to Owensboro next month.
The "ThriveKY" series is aimed at educating community health workers, legal aid professionals, librarians, social workers and others working directly in communities on aspects of the public safety net.
Emily Beauregard, the executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, explained that public assistance programs are critical for many Kentucky families living in counties with primarily low-paying jobs.
She said community professionals are on frontlines helping residents meet basic needs.
"We want community professionals to have the skills to advocate for whatever their communities need," said Beauregard. "So in one community, that may be housing, and another, it may be transportation, or child care. Of course, in most communities, it's going to be all of the above."
The ThriveKY Roadshow will be held June 13 at Owensboro Technical Community College.
The series makes stops in Hazard on July 18 and Morehead on August 15, with dates scheduled this fall for Louisville and Lexington.
For more information and to register, visit kyvoicesforhealth-dot-org.
Brenda Rosen, the executive director of the National Association of Social Workers of Kentucky, said social workers especially can benefit from getting up to speed on available resources.
"The goals are to bring to regions across the state," said Rosen, "an opportunity to learn more about updated policies' impact on everything from housing and food insecurity to talking about the importance of mental health."
Beauregard added that, increasingly extreme weather events are leaving even more residents vulnerable.
"We realize that, you know, there are events that happen in people's lives," said Beauregard, "like the tornadoes in Western Kentucky, the flooding in Eastern Kentucky - that can just take the feet right out from under a community."
According to a report by the Ohio Valley River Institute, around 60% of eastern Kentuckians affected by last summer's floods make $30,000 a year or less.
