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On Saturday, February 25th, Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith (D-4) and Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton (D-5) will join the family, friends and others touched by the late Michael T. White and unveil an honorary sign at 22nd and Jefferson Streets to commemorate his life and legacy in Metro Louisville.
“Michael White had a significant impact on many people here through his businesses and community service. He took a personal struggle, turned his life around and in doing so helped many people deal with their addiction and start new lives,” says Sexton Smith. “He was a businessman, community advocate, and philanthropist who received numerous honors and awards. He was also a family man and friend to many.”
This Saturday, Michael White’s life and service to Louisville Metro will be honored and memorialized at 22nd and Jefferson Street going west to 24th and Jefferson Street will be designated as “Michael T. White Street.”
Mr. White was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied business at Lindsey Wilson College and Yarmuth University.
However there was a low point in his life when addictions nearly destroyed him and his family. He made a fateful decision to enter recovery, follow through with rehab, take it one day at a time and recover.
It was that recovery that led to his founding of America’s Finest Filter which today employees 21 people in Louisville.
The honorary sign will be displayed in the area where he had a major impact on the lives of others. He was Co-Founder of Our Father’s House, which today is a rehab and recovery program located in the 2300 block of Jefferson Street.
He was also Co-Founder of The Token Club, Co-Founder of Reno and White, Co-Founder of Divine Steps, and Founder of WF Development and the Kentucky Recovery Resource Center.
“He left us too soon but his work in our community is an example we need now more than ever as we deal with a drug problem that is affecting our families and safety,” says Hamilton. “Let Michael White’s example show all of us that people need and deserve a second chance and something to believe in.”
The formal unveiling will take place at the corner of 24th and Jefferson Streets beginning at 1:00pm.
Fern Creek High School has been awarded a $14,000 grant from American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards, to further theater instruction at the school. The Classroom Resource Grant was made possible by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative.
The grant will allow students in the school’s theater program to formalize learning in scenic, costume, light, sound, hair/makeup and props for design and construction.
“Technical instruction is critical to prepare students for careers in the theater,” Alexander MacPhail-Fausey, theater director and teacher at Fern Creek. “By concentrating on the connections between design and construction in all disciplines connected to production, students will be able to start building portfolios before they graduate, giving them better chances of entering a theater program in college, or pursuing a career or apprenticeship in a theater immediately out of high school.”
Fern Creek is one of only three high schools in the Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) District offering the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Communication and Media Arts program, which includes instrumental/vocal music and theater, among other concentrations.
With the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation’s help, the American Theatre Wing is investing in public schools to help drama teachers get more of the resources they need to provide quality drama instruction in their schools. This project is an expansion of the work that the multi-Tony Award winning composer and producer has been doing to promote and fund arts education through his Foundation in the United Kingdom.
Yesterday, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Dr. Donna Hargens announced a $65,000 grant from GE Appliances, a Haier company, to support a project manager that will work to accelerate the Talent Development Academy initiative already underway at JCPS and facilitate alignment between high schools, higher education, workforce development, and industry.
JCPS Talent Development Academies are small learning communities organized around career themes that show students links between their academic subjects and real-world applications and career experience. The academies involve employers and higher education institutions in preparing students for college and careers.
“These academies will offer career pathways from healthcare to manufacturing and engineering, and students will be able to see what they are learning in English, math and science come alive in ways that apply to their career themes,” Dr. Hargens said. “This is exciting, and I appreciate GE Appliances’ generous gift through the Jefferson County Public Education Foundation to help kick start this project.”
The academies differ from traditional academic and vocational education models because they prepare high school students for both college and careers. The JCPS Talent Development Academies will align with the identified industry clusters for our region – healthcare, advanced manufacturing/engineering, business services, information technology, hospitality & tourism, and skilled trades. The integrated curriculum will provide broad information about a field and weave this theme into an academic curriculum that prepares students for postsecondary enrollment. Many students will also graduate from high school with career certifications and/or college credit. Studies have found that students in college and career academies perform better in high school and are more likely to continue into postsecondary education.
The project manager position will focus on supporting the execution of a comprehensive project plan that aligns industry focus with school curriculums. In partnership with KentuckianaWorks, Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI), and JCPS, the project manager will work to develop career roadmaps that detail education, skills, and training for progression in careers across the six identified industries. The project manager will also work to develop and coordinate an approach, processes, tools and systems that will facilitate the ongoing engagement of employers in the JCPS Talent Development Academies.
The academies are created with input from local business and economic development leaders. The idea is to create a workforce with skills currently needed by local employers and to align resources with growing career opportunities for students.
“The JCPS Talent Development Academies will inspire, engage and educate students in a way that helps them better prepare for relevant careers in today’s economy,” said GE Appliances President & CEO Chip Blankenship. “We’re thrilled to provide this grant to help accelerate the initiative for the benefit of students, their parents, employers and our community. This is another step in the journey GE Appliances is on with our great partners at JCPS to educate and excite students about careers in manufacturing. Education is not one size fits all. This is a program that will encourage every student to follow a track that will best apply their talents so they can enter college or the workplace ready for the opportunities that await them.”
Supported by the Ford Next Generation Learning Network, which has more than 35 partner communities across the United States, JCPS is leveraging best practices to implement the academy model. All 23 comprehensive and magnet high schools in JCPS were eligible to submit a proposal to join the initiative. After a review process, 11 JCPS high schools will begin transformation to the academy model in the fall of 2017, pending a $2.7 million budget request and approval from the JCPS Board of Education. The transformation would occur over a three-year period. By 2020, the goal is that 100 percent of JCPS graduates are college or career ready.
Through a partnership of KentuckianaWorks, GLI, and Jefferson County Public Schools, community engagement in this process is being driven by a local launch team and a guiding team comprised of business/industry, community, and education leaders. The launch team, convened by Tom Quick of GE Appliances, a Haier company, focuses on aligning the transitions between education and workforce, as well as ensuring curriculum aligns with skills desired by employers. The guiding team sets the overall community engagement objectives for the work and is setting up a structure to ensure that all programs have business/industry partners advising them and providing experiential learning opportunities for students, such as field trips, job shadowing, real-world projects, and internships.
JCPS envisions that all graduates of Talent Development Academies will be prepared, empowered, and inspired, as stated in the JCPS strategic plan, Vision 2020.
“They will be prepared by graduating with a high school diploma, an industry recognized credential, and six to nine hours of college credit,” said Dr. Hargens. “They will be empowered because they will have built workplace skills through team projects and experiential learning. They will be inspired because they know what their next steps are and are passionate about future educational and career opportunities.”
With the impending arrival of street sweeping season, Mayor Greg Fischer today reminded Louisville residents to sign up to receive an automatic notice, via text or email, when their street is scheduled to be swept by Metro Public Works.
The alerts system was introduced last year as a way to notify residents in advance that they must find alternate parking on street sweeping day. No parking is allowed on affected streets during street sweeping, and violators are subject to citation and/or towing.
About 6,000 people signed up for the alerts last year. As a result, the number of parking tickets issued for street sweeping violations dropped from 12,938 in 2015, to 7,493 in 2016. “This year, we want to build on that success and get even more people to sign up for electronic street sweeping alerts,” the Mayor said.
“The people of Louisville deserve clean streets. And we want to work with citizens to make sure they know when sweeping is happening so our streets get cleaned, and nobody has to get towed or ticketed.”
Residents can subscribe to the alerts by going to 
https://louisvilleky.gov/city-services/mylouisville and entering their address in the MyLouisville box and following the brief instructions for choosing email and/or text alerts (Note: You must at least enter an email address). They are also able to subscribe to reminders for Project Pickup junk collection dates.
Subscribers are alerted one week in advance that street sweeping is scheduled for their general area. A second alert goes out the day before street sweeping to tell residents that their particular block is to be swept. The alerts are in addition to signs that are posted on affected streets on the business day preceding street sweeping.
Street cleaning is scheduled from March through November. During that time, curbed neighborhood streets are generally cleaned three times.
- Street cleaning signs are posted prior to 5 p.m. on the business day before sweeping occurs. They alert residents that there is No Parking between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on sweeping day.
- Sweeping is conducted each day on east/west streets only, or north/south streets only, to make it easier for residents to find alternate parking.
- Vehicles parked in No Parking areas are subject to citation and/or towing.
- Residents should not park in affected areas until after 5 p.m., even if it appears an area has been swept, as sweepers may return before that time.
- The No Parking zone covers both sides of the street, though signs may only be posted on one side.
The MyLouisville online tool also provides information on garbage and recycling collection dates, emergency services and political representation, in addition to the alerts.
WWE’s SmackDown Live is coming to Louisville. The event will be held at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday, April 18 and marks the return of live, televised professional wrestling events in the Commonwealth.
SmackDown will be the first major televised combat sporting event in Kentucky since Governor Bevin streamlined the state’s boxing and wrestling regulations last November as part of the Red Tape Reduction Initiative. Prior to these changes, WWE had not scheduled a televised event in Kentucky since 2010 because of the state’s antiquated regulations.
Under the Governor’s leadership, unnecessary regulations such as the “cut rule” were eliminated. The rule required an athlete to leave a match if he or she bled, which deterred promoters from hosting live events in the state. Other regulations were amended to remove duplicative licensing processes for athletes and promoters, signaling to the industry that Kentucky is open for business.
“The Governor’s Red Tape Reduction Initiative continues to provide new economic opportunities for the Commonwealth,” said Public Protection Cabinet Secretary David Dickerson. “The Governor has proven that he is committed to making our state business-friendly, and the boxing and wrestling industry has responded.”
“We are excited to have WWE do a live taping in Louisville, and we hope that this is the first of many major events that Kentucky will host,” said Kentucky Boxing and Wrestling Commission Chairman Chad Miller. “Our state is home to many enthusiastic professional wrestling fans, and this event provides an exciting new opportunity for Kentuckians.”
The Red Tape Reduction Initiative targets excessive and complex regulatory burdens that stifle economic development in the Commonwealth. To date, approximately 117 regulations have been repealed, and over 400 regulations have been amended or targeted for amendment. To learn more about the Red Tape Reduction Initiative, visit: redtapereduction.com.
Louisville Metro Government’s Office of Redevelopment Strategies is launching a citywide effort to address the issue of redlining in Louisville – past and present.
As part of this effort, the office today unveiled an interactive tool that uses maps and data to illustrate how redlining impacted Louisville in the past, and still does today. The map will be used to enhance community conversations about redlining, which takes many forms but is most commonly the practice of denying loans in certain neighborhoods because of race or socioeconomic characteristics.
Redlining dates back to 1933, when the U.S. government created the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) to bolster the housing market and homeownership opportunities across the nation. The HOLC created residential securities maps, better known as redlining maps, to guide investment in U.S. cities. These maps assigned grades to neighborhoods to indicate their desirability for investment. Black, immigrant and low-income neighborhoods were often given low grades, eliminating their access to mortgage insurance or credit for decades. Although the HOLC was discontinued in 1951, the impact of disinvestment resulting from redlining is still evident in Louisville and most other U.S. cities today.
“Our city defines compassion as providing citizens the tools and support necessary to reach their full human potential,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “Through past and present forms of redlining, unnecessary hurdles are placed in front of some residents, keeping them from that potential. This map and data is meant to spark a community conversation that results in removing those hurdles.”
Local urban planner Joshua Poe has developed the interactive story map entitled “Redlining Louisville: The History of Race, Class and Real Estate.” This tool illustrates the ways that redlining has affected housing development, disinvestment and lending patterns in Louisville since the 1930s. By layering data sets such as vacant properties, building permits and property values, the map shows how the intentional redlining that was devised in the 1930s has had consequences that are evident still today.
Examples of conventional redlining that still exists today include refusal to provide delivery in certain areas, business loan denials regardless of credit-worthiness and refusal to write property insurance policies or dropping property owners from insurance coverage altogether.
Other forms of redlining, referred to as reverse redlining, also exist. Examples of reverse redlining include offering services low-income residents at higher prices, higher interest rates and excessive service fees or inferior products. This example may come in forms such as payday loans, cash advances, and expedited tax returns.
With the launch of the interactive map, the city is convening a yearlong community dialogue to gain understanding, to collect ideas and to formulate recommendations that support citizens’ wealth-creation, homeownership and development opportunities in west Louisville and other areas experiencing disinvestment. By beginning this dialogue, the city is acknowledging the past and working to better our future by removing hurdles that prevent some residents from reaching their full human potential.
“Today is an opportunity to begin talking openly about many of the systematic and institutional challenges faced by everyday people trying to get ahead,” Office of Redevelopment Strategies Director Jeana Dunlap said. “Some of our neighborhoods need basic services or amenities that may be taken for granted in other areas of town. We hope to bring light to these challenges and find innovative ways to stimulate investment, stabilize housing conditions and improve overall quality of place for impacted areas.”
There are three scheduled public events that will be held to discuss the various impacts of redlining in our city. Details of those events are as follows:
- February 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Louisville Urban League, hosted by the Louisville Urban League and Greater Louisville Project,
- March 28 at 5:30 p.m. at New Directions Housing Corporation, hosted by New Directions Housing Corporation, Human Relations Commission, and Metropolitan Housing Coalition,
- April 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the YouthBuild Louisville, hosted by The Center For Health Equity and YouthBuild Louisville.
Additionally, volunteer ambassadors will be educated on map information and trained to lead discussions throughout the community. These ambassadors will be encouraged to make presentations in their neighborhoods and record the thoughts and ideas provided by community members.
If you would like to be an ambassador or if you are an elected official or local organization that would like to provide support to this effort, please contact one of the partners below or visit the Office of Redevelopment Strategies website. Residents can also provide their thoughts by visiting the website and on social media using the hashtag #EraseTheLines.
The Office of Redevelopment Strategies coordinates cross-functional targeted neighborhood revitalization with a high level of accountability for tangible, data-driven actions that produce visible improvements in the built environment while supporting households, entrepreneurs, institutions, and other stakeholders.
To visit the interactive story map, please visit: https://lojic.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=e4d2990795…
For more information on Metro’s efforts to combat redlining and the upcoming community conversation, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/redevelopment-strategies
Mayor Greg Fischer announced expanded resources coming to the Nia Center, a one-stop workforce and entrepreneurial development center located at 2900 W. Broadway. Enhancements include department function additions and training opportunities, a new loan program and the addition of a café.
“Our city has great economic momentum right now. We have to make sure that opportunity and prosperity reach every neighborhood in our city,” said Fischer. “The Nia Center is a great partner for us in those efforts because if you want to start a business, want to grow an existing small business, or need help finding a job, this is the place to get the resources you need.”
In late 2016, Louisville Metro Community Services’ FEeD division (Financial Empowerment and economic Development division, which includes the microbusiness program) relocated to the Nia Center. The program joined the existing Small Business Development office, called the Business Clinic, run by Louisville Forward’s Department of Economic Development.
The move allows the departments to work side-by-side with other providers in the community, including the Kentucky Small Business Development Center, SCORE, Kiva and the SBA to bring more opportunities for collaboration that benefit Louisville’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.
“Our Community Services team members are honored to bring our Financial Empowerment and economic Development services into an existing focal point in west Louisville,” said Eric Friedlander, director of Louisville Metro Community Services. “We look forward to being a part of the interactive environment at the Nia Center that builds on the strengths of our community’s residents.”
Partnering with Louisville Forward, Louisville Metro Community Services and KentuckianaWorks, the Nia Center offers a full range of job and career services.
Programs offered at the Nia Center include:
Financing assistance
- The Metropolitan Business Development Corporation, commonly known as METCO, administers small business loans, which include facade, accessibility and gap financing loans. Since merger, more than 150 west Louisville businesses have received loans through this program, leveraging more than $27 million in private investment.
- The Louisville Metro Microbusiness Loan Program supports businesses that employ five or fewer people, including the owner, and offers loans ranging from $500 to $15,000.
- The Business Accelerator Loan, a NEW loan with special criteria is now available to entrepreneurs and small business owners who locate a business in one of the nine neighborhoods of west Louisville.
Business development assistance
- Etsy Craft Entrepreneurship Program empowers makers to find pathways to entrepreneurship through an online marketplace by teaching students about entrepreneurship 101, budgeting, pricing and marketing. Applications are now being accepted for the March session.
- Exploring Entrepreneurship is a free 1-hour introductory workshop for self-employment information and small business resources held the second Tuesday of each month.
- Power-Up Business Course is a free 7-week course designed to provide practical business planning information to participants, and enable them to develop their business idea.
- A 3-part “Government Contracting 101” lunch & learn series coordinated with the U.S. Small Business Association, starts in late March.
Workforce development programs
- The Kentucky Career Center inside Nia offers a full range of job and career services including job-coaching, resume-building, training and job placement. The facility, which placed nearly 50 people in jobs during the last six months of 2016, received extensive renovations and improvements in 2016.
- Kentuckiana Builds training is a 7-week class to prepare people for jobs being created by Louisville’s current building boom with projects like the Kentucky International Convention Center expansion and the new Omni Louisville Hotel.
- The Manufacturing Training and Employment Connection (M-TEC) and the Certified Production Technician (CPT) are 2- and 4-week trainings that give graduates skills and certifications valued by local companies that are hiring, including GE Appliances, Dakkota Integrated Systems, Algood Food Company and many others.
The expanded array of programs will include a new café to be added to the lobby area of the Center. Local small business owner Pam Haines will operate the café, a smaller version of her restaurant, Sweet Peaches, located at 1800 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd. The café will offer coffee, tea, sandwiches, salads and a variety of freshly baked pastries, and is expected to open in early summer 2017.
To learn more about the Nia Center, visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/louisville-forward/nia-center
