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The Public Safety Committee of the Louisville Metro Council has invited Judge Denise Brown, of Jefferson Family Court to talk about the Jefferson Family Recovery Court program when it meets on Wednesday, September 19th.
“It is important we learn more about deterrent programs which will allow the victims of substance abuse to get the help they need and keep families together,” says Councilwoman Jessica Green, who chairs the Committee. “Judge Brown will tell us about the program which uses a family centered collaborative approach to families involved in the dependency, neglect and abuse that have been impacted by parental substance abuse.”
According to Jefferson Family Court, JFRC is a response to the high percentage of substantiated child abuse and neglect cases that involve substance use by a parent. Over 90% of children in state custody have parents with drug/alcohol addiction.
The Public Safety Committee will meet at 3:30pm in Council Chambers, Historic City Hall, 601 West Jefferson Street.
The meeting is carried live on Metro TV, Spectrum Cable Channel 184 or on UVERSE at Channel 99. All meetings of the Metro Council are streamed live. Go to the Metro Council Home page at www.Louisvilleky.gov/metrocouncil and click on the Metro Council Agendas link.
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
It is a powerful visual art exhibit and its message is a simple one to the young people of every black community in America. The message: youth violence, black on black violence must stop. It is time to talk and find alternatives.
Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton (D-5) and members of the Louisville Metro Council have brought “James Pate’s KKK Series: Kin Killin Kin” to the Kentucky Center for African American heritage and encourages everyone to view and discuss the exhibit and through the art see the impact violence on is having on young men and children in the community.
It is a free exhibit and suggested for children over the age of twelve. There will be an Opening Reception and Gallery Talk on Friday, September 21st from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.
“I first saw this exhibit in Cincinnati. It hit home with me. We know that black on black crime is stealing our future,” says Hamilton. “James Pate through his art shows what is happening on our streets and how senseless violence is taking hold in the Black Community.”
“Kin Killin Kin” is a series of paintings in charcoals and colors that realistically show how violence is impacting young men and children. A stark feature of the works shows African Americans wearing the hoods of the Ku Klux Klan as they execute acts of violence.
James Pate is a contemporary visual artist whose works have been displayed in the J.B. Speed Museum in Louisville, The Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, and The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
He explains, as part of the exhibit, his reason for creating “Kin Killin Kin” which he began drawing in 2000.
“I decided as a personal private protest I would continue to compose a rendering as long as these insidious acts continue. The concept of visually comparing Black on Black terrorism to the Ku Klux Klan terrorism came directly from conversations among the black community. It is often said that we, African Americans, in a strange fruit kind of way, are doing the business of the KKK with our Black on Black violence.”
Joining Councilwoman Hamilton in bringing this exhibit to the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage Center are Council Members Barbara Sexton Smith (D-4), Mary C. Woolridge (D-3), Barbara Shanklin (D-2), Jessica Green (D-1) and President David James (D-6).
Again, the Exhibit is free and open to the public.
There will be an Opening Reception and Gallery Talk on Friday, September 21st from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.
Councilwoman Hamilton is also moderating a Youth Voices Against Violence Forum on Saturday, November 3rd from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
“I encourage everyone young an old to take advantage of the special exhibit,” says Hamilton. “These striking images will make any one stop and think about what is going on in our city today. All of us need to talk about it and find alternatives to this special kind of violence.”
The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage is located at 1701 West Muhammad Ali Blvd. To learn more go to www.kcaahc.org. Or you can call 502-583-4100.
Bourbon & Beyond – the incredible all-in-one bourbon, food, and entertainment that honors the rich history of bourbon that is so deeply rooted in the heart of Kentucky–is making its debut in Louisville’s Champions Park. The two-day extravaganza features musical performances, The Big Bourbon Bar, bourbon masters and celebrities, top national and local chefs, one-of-a-kind culinary creations, and a variety of other authentic experiences.
Official event parking will be available at the Eva Bandman, Water Tower and Cox’s Park parking lots. Prices range from $15-$20. Please click here for parking map. ADA parking will be available in the Water Tower Lot. Accessible parking lot transportation will be available to transport patrons with mobility disabilities to the main gate.
Rideshare Riders: Uber, Lyft, Taxi and Hotel Vans- Rideshare Drop-Off/Pick-Up will take place at the Water Tower Lot (3005 River Road, Louisville, KY 40207)
Rideshare Drivers: Take I-71 to Zorn Ave or Brownsboro Road to access Water Tower lot. Ensure your credentials are easily visible for entry to lot
Traffic Notes:
Please visit http://www.louisville-police.org/455/Street-Closures for special event traffic plans.
For pedestrian safety, River Road (between Edith & Zorn Ave) will be closed briefly at close of festival.
Location:
Champions Park (2050 River Road, Louisville, KY 40206)
Event Schedule:
- Gates open at 11:00 am daily.
- Saturday show start: 12:35 PM
- Saturday show end: 10:50 PM
- Sunday show start: 11:50 AM
- Sunday Show end: 10:25 PM
Please click here for daily lineup and schedule
Photo: Louisville Metro Housing Authority
The Louisville Metro Housing Authority is among 285 local public housing authorities across the country to be awarded federal funding for vouchers to provide permanent affordable housing to low-income residents with disabilities.
Louisville will receive $707,134 from the HUD 2018 Mainstream Voucher program, which will provide 107 vouchers annually to assist non-elderly persons with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other segregated settings, at serious risk of institutionalization, homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.
Lisa Osanka, LMHA’s interim director, said the authority will partner with Wellspring, the Center for Accessible Living and Volunteers of America Mid-States to provide referrals for non-elderly people with disabilities and assist with a timely transition to a unit, and access to supportive services and supports.
Non-elderly persons with disabilities also will be allowed to apply directly to the program without going through a partner agency.
“This funding will provide disabled persons more options to rent affordable housing on the private market in neighborhoods all around our community,” Osanka said.
“This is good news for LMHA and good news for our city,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “Affordable housing is vital for an individual to reach financial stability, raise a family and reach their full human potential. That’s why my administration, over the last four budget cycles, has invested over $40 million in affordable housing. This targeted federal assistance will help us continue to move the needle.”
“Access to affordable housing has the power to change lives, not just by providing individuals and families with a roof over their heads and a place to call home, but also giving them peace of mind and a foundation to build the rest of their lives upon,” said U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth. “I’m glad this important federal investment is coming here to help Louisvillians in need.”
In its announcement of the awards, HUD said a total of $98.5 million would go to public housing authorities across the nation through its Section 811 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program.
“HUD is committed to making sure people with disabilities have a decent, safe and affordable place to call home,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Working closely with our local partners, we help residents with disabilities live independently and fully enjoy the use of their homes.”
This program helps to further the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act by helping persons with disabilities live in the most integrated setting, according to the HUD announcement. The program also encourages partnerships with health and human service agencies with a demonstrated capacity to coordinate voluntary services and supports to enable individuals to live independently in the community.
Mayor Greg Fischer announced today that Louisville Metro Government, together with the University of Louisville’s Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging, AARP Kentucky and the Kentucky Regional Planning and Development Agency (KIPDA), have completed an Action Plan for Age-Friendly Louisville, an initiative to create an accessible and inclusive city for people of all ages and abilities.
With the guidance of a community advisory group, eight community meetings, two city-wide surveys, and collaboration with Plan 2040 (Louisville’s recently updated comprehensive plan), the Age-Friendly plan outlines goals and actions for four focus areas: housing, mobility and access, social participation and inclusion, and community support and health services.
The city and its partners will host a kick-off event for the Age Friendly plan at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18 at the Jewish Family and Career Center, 2821 Klempner Way.
The planning process began in late 2016 with Louisville’s membership in the AARP Network of Age Friendly Communities, an institutional affiliate of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age Friendly Cities & Communicates.
“Membership in the Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities has boosted our efforts to support our growing population of seniors and bring age-friendly practices to the forefront of our community,” the Mayor said. “One of our guiding principles in Louisville is to become an even more compassionate city, and that means ensuring that people of all ages and abilities have the opportunity to reach their full potential.”
Named “America’s Aging Care Capital” by Forbes magazine, Louisville is a leader in aging and health care innovation, with more than 85,000 professionals working to create the health and aging solutions of tomorrow. The Age-Friendly Louisville plan will help further position the city at the forefront of aging care for a global senior population.
“At the national level, AARP is a leader in promoting Age-Friendly cities. Locally, we will leverage our resources and network to connect the initiative to critical grassroots systems and advocacy channels,” said Tihisha Rawlins, Associate State Director at AARP Kentucky. “We are working to create a statewide conversation where all of Kentucky’s age-friendly communities—Berea, Bowling Green, Lexington, and Louisville—can share ideas and support one another in the process of becoming age-friendly.”
“I look forward to the day when all citizens in Louisville can say their community is age-friendly; that regardless of a person’s age (from early childhood to centenarian), all are able to access and actively participate in their community: the place where they live,” said Barbara Gordon, Director of Social Services at KIPDA.
Dr. Anna Faul, Executive Director of the University of Louisville Institute for Sustainable Health & Optimal Aging, said, “The Institute looks forward to leveraging its connections to achieve wide-reaching coordination and collaboration in this effort. Such comprehensive buy-in will be vital to the success of the age-friendly city endeavor: improving the quality of life not only for our older residents but for residents of all ages.”
The plan’s goals and actionable steps include:
- Increasing the number of home maintenance resources for older adults, to ensure that they can age in place
- Increasing the number of home builders who have earned the Certified Aging in Place Specialist certification from the National Association of Home Builders
- Working with TARC to ensure its services are affordable, accessible and understandable to all community members
- Improving sidewalks, crosswalks and signal crossing times to ensure all citizens can access their communities safely.
- Increasing the capacity of neighborhood associations, Neighborhood Places, community ministries and other community organizations to promote health resource information.
- Hiring an Age Friendly Louisville program manager to oversee the activities of the plan.
Louisville’s population currently includes 15% of people over the age of 60 and projections states that percentage could increase to 40% by 2050. The Age Friendly Plan has incorporated goals and strategies to improve the quality of life for people of all ages.
To view the complete Age Friendly plan, please visit https://www.agefriendlylou.com/
A spin-off of the Clifton Roots, Jazz, and Heritage Festival held at the Clifton Center last year, Butchertown Roots continues the quest to bring the best in roots, jazz, and world music to Louisville audiences. Featuring five Grammy nominees, a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Award recipient, and a MacArthur Foundation genius grant award winner, Butchertown Roots welcomes internationally renowned performers, as well as several of Louisville’s most celebrated local artists. Both concerts will be held at Louisville’s most exciting new venue, Odeon, located at 1335 Story Avenue in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood.
Masters of the infectious Brazilian music known as “Choro”, Trio Brasileiro, will kick off the festival on Saturday, September 15th at 8:00 pm. Recipients of a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album for their recording with clarinetist Anat Cohen, Rosa dos Ventos, the Trio includes world-renowned guitarist Douglas Lora, mandolin virtuoso Dudu Maia, and percussionist Alexandre Lora, and is regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of Choro, a musical style that has been described by some as a Brazilian cross between bluegrass and ragtime. With heart-wrenching harmonies and blazing virtuosity, Trio Brasileiro has brought crowds to their feet in concert tours throughout the U.S., South America, and Europe.
Butchertown Roots continues Sunday, September 16 with True Blues, an inspiring evening of music and conversation with legendary blues artists Corey Harris and Phil Wiggins. Harris, the phenomenal blues guitarist and singer who was a featured artist and narrator of Martin Scorcese’s 2003 documentary, “Feel Like Going Home”, which traced the evolution of the blues from West Africa to the southern U.S., will be joined by legendary blues harmonica virtuoso Phil Wiggins. Wiggins was recently awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in honor of his many accomplishments, which included a 32-year stint as a member of one of the most famous duos in blues history, Cephas & Wiggins. Continue reading
The Center for Digital Government released its national rankings today for city government websites, placing Louisvilleky.gov first in the Center’s Government Experience Awards.
The awards “recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties that have gone to the web and beyond to radically improve the experience of government and push the boundaries of how citizen services are delivered,” according to the center.
“State and local governments are responding to citizen wants and needs with increasingly sophisticated online experiences,” said Dustin Haisler, chief innovation officer for the Center for Digital Government. “This year’s Government Experience Awards winners have well-designed websites and innovative channels that provide citizens meaningful information and services, robust data integration and an exceptional user experience.”
Mayor Fischer’s work to improve citizen interaction and transparency is part of his strategic plan to “…annually expand our digital offerings and presence as well as increasing transparency, availability and usability of information and data.” You can see the Mayor’s entire strategic plan here: https://louisvilleky.gov/sites/default/files/mayors_office/pdf_files/strategicplanjuly2018.pdf
“This award is a testament to the tremendous work our team has done to improve digital access to services and information for all of our citizens,” Mayor Fischer said. “I encourage everyone to visit Louisvilleky.gov when they need get things done or learn about our city service offerings.”
Louisvilleky.gov was just recently updated to improve the smart phone experience and to highlight the most popular services more prominently on the city’s homepage. Some of those services include:
- MyLousville: Map Services by Address: https://louisvilleky.gov/city-services/mylouisville
- City Services Lookup: http://louisvilleky.gov/city-services/services
- City Events Calendar: http://louisvilleky.gov/events
- City News: http://louisvilleky.gov/news
- Online Maps: http://louisvilleky.gov/city-services/maps
- Report an issue: http://louisvilleky.gov/city-services/report
- Open Data Portal: https://data.louisvilleky.gov
- Map Crime: https://louisvilleky.gov/government/police/services/crime-maps
- Permits & Licensing Search: http://portal.louisvilleky.gov/codesandregs/mainsearch
- Get a Permit: http://louisvilleky.gov/government/get-permit
- Get a License: http://louisvilleky.gov/government/get-license
A popular feature is live chat with Metro311, located on every page of our site. The Metro311 team sends constant chat feedback to the web content team, ensuring that our site content is always up-to-date.
In addition to Louisvilleky.gov, Louisville Metro is working to offer services in other innovative ways. We’re a partner with IFTTT (https://ifttt.com/), a web and mobile platform that allows visitors to customize their digital experience with such tools as Twitter, Google, and Amazon Echo. And the city is beginning to offer services through the new digital kiosks being installed in and around downtown.
All that helped Louisville rank first among the 2018 government experience award winners in the city category. The full list follows:
2018 GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE AWARD WINNERS
Overall City Government Experience Winners:
- City of Louisville, KY
- City of Los Angeles, CA
- City of Tuscaloosa, AL
- City of San Diego, CA
- City of Baton Rouge, LA
- City and County of Denver, CO
