Our Story
It started with five friends and colleagues who share a deep commitment to public service. At first, our mutual desire to do good triggered interesting conversations and the exchange of ideas. Eventually, we decided to start a non-profit organization based on finding innovative ways to take on poverty in Kentucky.
Company Purpose
The purpose of the Kentucky Poverty Law
Center is to (1) identify and address the specific elements of poverty
in Kentucky, and (2) develop methods for addressing poverty that can be
replicated across the country. Our mission is to work with existing
programs and to conduct our own advocacy, education, and research to
craft an innovative approach to understanding the cycle of poverty, so
that we can dismantle it.
The Problem
In
April 1964, President Lyndon Johnson stood on Tom Fletcher’s front
porch in Inez, Kentucky and declared war on poverty. Kentucky has made
strides since then - particularly because of a number of legal aid programs in Kentucky, including four programs
funded by Legal Services Corporation (“LSC”). All of these programs do
amazing work and LSC funding is a remarkable way to provide free legal
services to those desperately in need. People are still falling through the cracks, though. It's not from a lack of effort or commitment from the people currently in the trenches. At KYPLC, we know from personal experience that the advocates out there right now work and day night for their clients.
The gaps exist because of funding restrictions, the sheer number of people who need assistance, and an approach that, quite frankly, is outdated.
This means that while existing legal aid programs in Kentucky serve a giant amount of
people, there is an equally giant amount of people who do not qualify
for services and cannot afford to retain private counsel.
Similarly,
so many legal problems could be avoided with community education but there are still not enough community educators in the trenches.
Finally, cutting edge research about poverty, specifically rural poverty, does not exist in a way that is useful to practitioners or proposes radical, yet practical resolutions. Far too often proposals duplicate or conflict with existing law.
Why spend time re-creating the wheel and not figuring out
how to use the existing option?
Why spend time developing an option that has no hope of ever
being successfully implemented?
As professionals, we can and must do better to meet the needs of our clients. Forty-five years after President Johnson first waged war on poverty,
the cycle of poverty in America has yet to be broken. This
is a harsh reality in Kentucky, which has a rich heritage yet claims 28
spots (including third and fourth place) on the list of the 100 poorest
counties in the U.S. by median household income. While there is
poverty in every community, the circumstances faced by thousands of
Kentuckians are particularly stark. Similarly, there is so much human
potential that remains forgotten and untapped. In 2009, we believe
that this is unacceptable. Therefore, we created the Kentucky Poverty
Law Center and we are inviting you to join a new movement that will
re-ignite the war on poverty.
Our Solution
The Kentucky Poverty Law Center Program
Services will focus on addressing the specific elements of poverty.
The idea is that if you treat poverty like a recipe, then you can
identify the ingredients and systematically cross each ingredient off
the list. We embrace the principle of pulling yourself up by your
bootstraps but we also recognize that you can’t pull yourself up if you
don’t have boots.
We want to give you boots.
Our tools will be advocacy, education, and research.
We will use these tools to identify and undercut the causes of poverty
because we believe that, as professionals, neighbors, a state and a
country, we can do better for each other.
We
do not want to replace other programs or compete for resources depended
upon by other programs in Kentucky. Instead we will conduct
coordinated activities that fill gaps in services. We will partner
with other organizations to share tools, ideas, and best practices. We
want to empower you to join us in our fight against poverty.
We want you to join as we re-ignite the war on poverty.
We
understand that you may be wondering why you should care. You should
care because poverty exists in all of our communities. It is easier
today than ever before to become poor. Poverty across our country is
capturing more and more people. This trend cannot be stopped without
direct services. Direct services do not exist without human and
financial resources. We are committed to providing cutting-edge direct
services to those in need and in the most basic way we can’t do this
without you.
You
may be asking yourself if you should support a program in another state.
This isn't about where you live, though. This is about people in our
own country who do not have the most basic things in life - like
plumbing, a safe place to live, access to education, or access to
health care. This is about empowering our neighbors to be contributing
members of our communities. This is about creating a program that can
be replicated across America and down your street.
This is about a movement.
Right
now, we are in Kentucky but with your help we will take the movement on
the road and across our country. With your help, we will create a
program that can be replicated in urban and rural areas. Together, we
will do something amazing.
