Register now for the 2025 KyPolicy Conference, a full-day exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing Kentucky in the 2025 legislative session and beyond.
8:15 a.m. Registration
The Paddock (in front of the barn)
9:00 a.m. Opening Session
Threats and Opportunities in This Moment
Big policy issues are under consideration at the federal and state level that will deeply affect the lives of Kentuckians and the future of our communities. We’ll look at some of what’s on the table and begin exploring what we can learn from current and recent efforts to block harmful policies and head Kentucky in a better direction.
Location: The Barn
9:30 a.m. Break
9:40 a.m. Breakout Sessions
Progress and Possibilities in Kentucky’s Juvenile Justice System
The legislature passed Senate Bill 200 in 2014, overhauling Kentucky’s juvenile justice system by emphasizing early interventions and services in the community over detention. A decade later, the successes of that approach are clear even as there remains work to be done. This session will feature the architect of SB 200, along with state experts and youth justice advocates exploring the progress we’ve made along with necessary next steps.
Location: The Bluegrass Room
Unaffordable Housing in Kentucky
Kentuckians have suffered under spiking rents and prohibitively expensive mortgages in the wake of the pandemic, but the roots of Kentucky’s housing crisis dig far deeper than 2020. To solve it, federal, state and local governments will need to act and invest. In this session we will explore Kentucky’s housing gap, hear how Kentucky’s housing market has been shaped by the national housing landscape, and hear about local efforts to make housing more available and affordable for all Kentuckians.
Location: The Bluegrass Room
11:15 a.m. Lunch
11:15 a.m. Lunch Session
Legislature 101
KyPolicy Senior Fellow Pam Thomas will lead this session for college students and those new to advocacy during lunch. It will focus on how a bill becomes a law and other basic knowledge for those who wish to closely follow the legislature.
Location: The Ballroom
12:10 p.m. Keynote Panel
Amendment 2 and the Future of Public Education in Kentucky
The defeat of Amendment 2 in November was a historic win for public schools, and it makes Kentucky a national model in successfully beating back efforts to privatize school funding. This session will look at what went into that victory and what it means for effective organizing and advocacy in our state. And it will look at priorities and plans to rededicate Kentucky to reinvestment in our public schools. Guest speakers include Kelsey Hayes Coots, campaign manager for Protect Our Schools KY and the Kentucky Student Voice Team.
Location: The Barn
1:40 p.m. Break
1:50 p.m. Breakout Sessions
The True Cost of Fines & Fees in Kentucky
When an individual becomes involved with the criminal legal system in Kentucky there are fines and fees assessed at nearly every step of the process. Excessive fines and fees drive up incarceration and perpetuate poverty, and failure to pay carries steep consequences. However, little is known at both the state and local levels about the true cost of these fines and fees in Kentucky. This session will feature national experts as well as KyPolicy’s foundational state and local research on the scope and extent of criminal legal system fines and fees, and policies to address them.
Location: The Barn
Safeguarding Kentucky’s Strongest Tool Against Hunger
Food is a basic human right, but year after year the Kentucky General Assembly has faced proposals to take food away from tens of thousands of Kentuckians who are already struggling to make ends meet. In this session, we will hear from advocates in Kentucky and neighboring states who have faced and defeated similar efforts to dismantle our strongest tool against hunger, SNAP.
Location: The Bluegrass Room
3:30 p.m. Adjournment
Social workers are eligible to receive 5.5 Continuing Education Credits for their attendance. Participants will check in during the program with National Association of Social Workers Kentucky chapter Executive Director, Brenda Rosen. For more information please message Brenda Rosen: brosen.naswky@socialworkers.org.
Speakers
Opening Session: Threats and Opportunities in This Moment
Jason Bailey is the founder and Executive Director of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. Jason appears frequently in the media and is a regular speaker to civic organizations on the critical economic and fiscal issues facing the commonwealth. His public service includes appointments to the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform and the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System Funding Work Group. He has a master’s in public administration with a specialization in public finance from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Carson-Newman College.
Keynote Panel: Amendment 2 and the Future of Public Education in Kentucky
Panelists: Kelsey Coots, campaign manager Protect Our Schools KY; Kentucky Student Voice Team
Kelsey grew up in a family and tight knit community that taught her the importance of service – to others and to a cause bigger than herself. Since then, she has pursued a mission to take on inequity and fight for a better world. First, as a teacher leader in Houston, then as an award winning teacher in Louisville. Starting in 2014, her mission took her into politics where she had an immediate impact – helping bring in a record haul of fundraising dollars as the Kentucky House Democratic caucus defended its majority.
Since then she was a leader in the teacher’s movement in Kentucky, worked with multiple candidates at the State and Federal level, and has guided new organizations all while successfully developing and executing innovative strategies in digital and political organizing, and finance. She even ran for office herself.
In 2018, she co-founded Blue Dot Consulting to further expand the mission and help like-minded candidates, caucuses and causes pursue a better world. The results speak for themselves.
Kelsey’s mantra is, “Kentucky is worth fighting for.” And that’s just what she is going to do.
Kelsey lives in Louisville, KY with her husband, Taylor, their dog, Miss Charles Barkley, and their new baby, Avery.