The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has awarded grants of 50-thousand-dollar each to 10 organizations to expand outreach to the state’s BIPOC population – black, indigenous and people of color. One recipient is the Frankfort Cares Coalition. Treasurer Charlie Kendell said the coalition consists of 23 nonprofit and social service groups and will use the funds to hire a community navigator.
“Someone from the community that can meet with churches, that can meet with social groups, that can meet where individuals are that may be in need of these services.”
Kendell said the community navigator will begin by identifying BIPOC numbers, then connect at-risk members to the help they need.
“We have a lot of resources within the community, but we just need to make sure that people are getting to them. So we're in the process now of accepting applicants applications. We're going to be interviewing people here within the next week.”
The foundation cites the 2023 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report, which saw an overall decline in fatal overdoses, but a rise in the number of Black overdose deaths.
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