• At CLOUT’s 2009 Nehemiah Action Assembly, Gov. Steve Beshear’s office, the Ky. Dept. of Financial Institutions, and several Jefferson County legislators committed to work with CLOUT, and the Ky. Coalition for Responsible Lending, toward legislation to create a rate cap of 36% on payday lenders in the state; also committing to assist with regulating payday lenders more strongly was Atty. General Jack Conway’s office. Since that time, CLOUT has assisted in the development of the Kentucky Coalition for Responsible Lending, a diverse coalition of over 60 organizations across the state who support a rate cap.

• Also, before the Nehemiah Action Assembly, in a meeting with CLOUT leadership, Mayor Jerry Abramson agreed to convene local banks & credit unions to develop an initiative to offer products & services to reach out to unbanked households in the Louisville area, and to apply to the National League of Cities (NLC) to be selected as one of eight cities to receive a year of technical assistance with the initiative. At the Assembly, the Mayor’s representative restated the Mayor’s commitments, and several local banks & credit unions committed to participate. A week after the Assembly, we learned that Louisville was selected by the NLC to receive their assistance. At present, most major banks & credit unions have come together in this initiative, and it is anticipated that “Bank On Louisville” will be launched shortly after the beginning of 2010.

• At CLOUT’s 2008 Nehemiah Action Assembly, (then) Deputy Secretary of the Ky. Cabinet for Health & Family Services Steve Nunn, and 12 other local & state health officials agreed to work together to develop a pilot project for Jefferson County with the goal of enrolling 6000 additional children in the next 3 years in Medicaid & KCHIP (Ky. Child Health Insurance Program). Through subsequent meetings under CLOUT’s leadership, the Regional KCHIP Task Force was formed.

• Later in the year, through the efforts of CLOUT & allied organizations across the state, Gov. Steve Beshear committed to dedicate $31 million (to be matched by $81 million in federal funding) to enroll 35,000 children in KCHIP over the next two years.

• Since the launch of the Governor’s initiative in Nov. 2008, over 30,000 children across the state, and over 6,000 in Jefferson County, have been enrolled.

CLOUT leaders with Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear in the state capitol rotunda
in Nov. 2008 celebrating the kickoff of the initiative
to enroll 35,000 more children in KCHIP.

“Stop the Revolving Door”

• At CLOUT’s 2007 Nehemiah Action Assembly, (then) Ky. Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert committed to double the size of the local Drug Court program and to provide more training for judges in the benefits of the program. Those commitments were met, and now over 200 persons are participating in the program (up from 89 in 2008).

• Also at that Assembly, (then) Ky. Dept. of Corrections Commissioner John Rees committed to create a new training program in issues related to drug & alcohol addiction for all Probation & Parole staff statewide. This program is now in place, and is required for all new & existing staff.

• Also in 2007, Mayor Jerry Abramson committed to establish a new drug treatment program in our local jail, and to create a new position of Drug/Alcohol Counselor on the staff of the Louisville Metro Dept. of Corrections. Those commitments were met, and hundreds of inmates have already been assisted.

• CLOUT launched the effort to develop a Louisville Metro Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) in 2004, and received initial commitments at that time from several state & local officials to the concept. Since then, CLOUT assisted in the creation of the “Open the Door” campaign, which is a coalition of several local organizations that support the creation of an AHTF. In the meantime, CLOUT worked with allies to achieve in 2006 an ongoing dedicated source of revenue for the Kentucky (state-level) AHTF.

• Finally, in 2007, Mayor Abramson included a local AHTF in his Comprehensive Housing Strategy and committed an initial $1 million in seed money to it, and in 2008, the Louisville Metro Council voted 25-1 to establish the Fund according to the guidelines developed by CLOUT and our allies in “Open the Door” campaign.

• In October 2009, through the work of the “Open the Door” campaign, the Louisville Metro Council voted to move the creation of the AHTF forward by setting a deadline for the appointment of the Board, and moved the administration of the fund from the city Housing Dept. to a yet-unnamed private non-profit entity.

• CLOUT is continuing to work with the other members of the “Open the Door” campaign to engage local & state officials to ensure that an ongoing dedicated source of public revenue for the local AHTF is identified, with the goal of having a fund of $10 million per year going toward various affordable housing strategies in our community. Such a fund would produce 840 units of affordable housing per year, would generate 1120 jobs in the first year and 440 jobs every year thereafter, and would generate over $60 million in local revenue in the first year and over 30 million every year thereafter.

• CLOUT’s annual Nehemiah Action Assembly (March 23) involved over 1570 persons, which was our largest ever (a 104% increase over 2007).

• We had a 37% increase in the number of Justice Ministry Network Members functioning in our member congregations compared to last year; we also had 6 congregations who turned out 50% or more of their average worship attendance for the Action, which is up from 2 last year.

• CLOUT’s membership grew by 4 congregations this year.

• Our citywide Listening Process in fall 2009 engaged over 400 persons in small house meetings all across Louisville Metro, through which we surfaced several critical community problems to be voted on at this Assembly.

• We trained over 200 of our leaders in various local workshops related to how to take effective action on local community problems, and we sent 9 leaders to national training conducted by DART.

• Our 2009 Investment Drive has resulted in investments totaling over $84,000 (to date), which CLOUT leaders raised from 24 corporations, 9 small businesses/organizations, and 283 individuals, which represents a 9% increase in the number of individual investors over last year.

• CLOUT also received grants over the past year from the following sources: Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Marianist Sharing Fund, and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

• TARC installed 6 bus shelters up and down Dixie Highway where there were none, so that people no longer have to stand out in the rain and snow to wait for a bus.

• The narcotics department of the Louisville Police made over 150 arrests of drug dealers in the California neighborhood, which cleaned up the open street sales of drugs in that area.

• Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) developed a program of supervised suspensions, so students on suspension would not be out in the community during the school day getting into trouble and falling further behind on their schoolwork.

• JCPS implemented the Direct Instruction (DI) reading curriculum in several struggling elementary schools; the result is that thousands of more kids are reading at or above grade level.

• The Housing Authority of Louisville committed to replace one-for-one the 728 public housing units that are being demolished for the redevelopment of the Clarksdale Housing Development. meaning that our city will not lose any badly needed affordable housing units.

• The Family Health Centers hired more bilingual interpreters, translated key documents into Spanish, and had all 270 employees participate in cultural competency training, resulting in improved access to health care for the growing Hispanic/Latino community.

• Numerous state & local officials committed to establish a Louisville Metro Affordable Housing Trust Fund to address the serious lack of affordable housing in the city, including Mayor Jerry Abramson, who has included the AHTF in his Comprehensive Housing Strategy and committed $1 million in seed money. Once fully funded, the AHTF will provide millions of dollars each year to address the lack of affordable housing in the city.

• In 2007, commitments from state & local officials made changes that will help stop the “revolving door” of the criminal justice system, including: Ky. Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert doubled the size of the Drug Court program and to provide more training for judges; Ky. Dept. of Corrections Commissioner John Rees created a new training program in drug & alcohol addiction issues for all Probation & Parole staff statewide; and Mayor Jerry Abramson established a new drug treatment program in our local jail.

• In 2008, state & local health officials committed to enroll more uninsured children in the Medicaid & KCHIP health coverage programs, with Gov. Beshear eventually committing to enroll 35,000 thousand more, with a total state/federal commitment of $112 million, over the next two years.

• In 2009, state & local officials committed to work toward a cap on interest rates for payday loans, and local financial institutions agreed to develop services to reach out to unbanked households who fall prey to payday loans and other forms of predatory lending.

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