(Leitchfield, KY) – The newly formed Grayson County Poverty Coalition is working to educate the community on a valuable resource that is the brainchild of United Way, according to Misty Thomas, who sits on the poverty coalition’s education committee. Thomas said, “Our goal is look for the breakdown in the communication process that is keeping families dealing with poverty away from valuable resources they need. I’m not sure that we have an overwhelming lack of resources to help but instead a lack of advertising of the resources already in place.”
United Way 2-1-1 is a call service that serves as a single point of reference to community resources for Hardin, Breckinridge, Grayson, LaRue, and Meade Counties – the service area of United Way of Central Kentucky. Local residents can dial 2-1-1 for free, 24 hour information on health and human services resources such as: food, healthcare, counseling, employment assistance, heating assistance, homeless issues and more. Callers receive live, personalized support from a trained specialist. 2-1-1 is confidential and available in multiple languages. Access to the 2-1-1 service database is also available online for public use at www.unitedwayck.org.
Those who benefit from 2-1-1 include: families seeking services for their children, such as developmental screenings, mentoring opportunities, and after school care; seniors seeking legal assistance, benefits help, or volunteer opportunities; human resource professionals helping an employee find resources for transportation, childcare, or their aging parents; laid-off workers struggling to find employment; disaster victims seeking housing, food, or counseling; teachers, clergy, and agency staff seeking help for their clients or students.
UWCKY states in a flier concerning 2-1-1 that “…the service strengthens the community by uniting the people who want to help with those who need help.”
The Grayson County Poverty Coalition was formed by Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center Addiction Services Director Jessica Embry, and helping organize and oversee are Grayson County Alliance Executive Director Debbie Childress, and Community Action Program Director Tracy Dennison. The coalition’s first meeting was held in November 2019 in an attempt to bring likeminded citizens together to unveil and remedy issues that cause or keep families in poverty. Embry encourages anyone with an interest to get involved, and those who struggle with poverty to attend to share a first-hand perspective.
During the groups January meeting they subdivided into two categories, education and mentorship. Those committees were challenged to decide what barriers existed, and potential solutions for removing those barriers.
The Education Committee decided to look internally at their area of expertise and make that demographic a priority to educate on 2-1-1. Tracie Fulkerson – a retired teacher – will be working to educate the school system about the resource; Clay and Beth Ratley will work with the detention center, 911 dispatchers, first responders, and officers; Kelly Stevenson will work with city governments, Misty Thomas will work on sharing information through local media outlets; Tammee Saltsman will work with community organizations; Cathy Shultz will target the faith based community; Natalie Taul and Robin Burton will push the information forward to the vast audience the Grayson County Extension Office has access to, and Jessica Embry will be working to target the hospital community. The group felt that those areas were all encompassing to getting the information in the hands of the general public.
The Mentorship Committee began to craft the framework of what the mentorship program should consist of, and there was an overwhelming consensus that the thought process had to be meeting people where they are, and working from a place of encouragement. Michele Vincent introduced the committee to a program called Family First, and she is hoping to bring the Family First CEO to a future meeting to share insight. Debbie Childress is hoping to create a focus group from her clients at the Grayson County Alliance to ensure their voices are being heard in the conversation about barriers to poverty.
The GC Poverty Coalition encourages everyone who works in an area that could be deemed as a resource for families to please consider adding their information to the 2-1-1 data bank. It’s a free service and is easy to add resources. Anyone interested in being listed can follow this link.
The GC Poverty Coalition meets again on Tuesday, Feb. 11th from Noon-1 p.m. at the Leitchfield United Methodist Church Mission Building (located at 208 West Main St.). Everyone is invited to attend and get involved.
