BLOG

Each of the organizations Prism spoke to acknowledged the importance of resource provisions around language access, child care, and meals to reduce barriers to entry by making community engagement more convenient and appealing. But not every organization has the resources to achieve goals around accessibility, especially groups that are entirely volunteer-run. Volunteers and funding dollars are drying up across mutual aid communities, making matters more difficult for these groups and limiting capacity even further.

Read More

Protest songs have been part of American history for centuries — from “Yankee Doodle” during the Revolutionary War period to “Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” — and these tunes have covered all sides of the political and social spectrum. However, the history of protest music is often associated with men. Musicians like Woody and Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan are lauded for their issue-focused songs, yet women have played a key role in this American tradition as well.

Read More

The American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) Advocacy Foundation is a grassroots organization that arose in response to a national landscape rife with yawning racialized gaps.

Read More

It’s not often in mainstream media that the topic of Black liberation overlaps with issues concerning environmental activism. Yet, if we take a closer look, it becomes clear that these two themes can often be interconnected, helping to weave a fascinating tapestry of Black history and present struggles. The short film The Aunties poetically touches on this union while showcasing elder Black gay women activists through their work and romantic partnership.

Read More

This group from Russell that we interviewed, these are folks who’ve lived in the neighborhood for a couple of years, for 10 years, 50 years, 80 years. Whose first job was at the McDonald’s at 28th and Broadway or at the old Winn-Dixie at 12th and Broadway. Who grew up in Beecher Terrace, spent lots of time in their great-aunt’s beauty shop and answering service, graduated from Central High School, own businesses, run nonprofits.

Read More

Councilman Jecorey Arthur, who served Louisville Metro Council District 4 from 2021 to 2024, is calling on more Louisvillians to take action in their communities. “The United States Constitution starts with, ‘We the people.’ That means all of us have a role to play in fighting for a better future. I ran for Metro Council, but you don't have to be an elected official to make change. Our history shows us that government action starts with community action.”

Read More

SZA’s new album, Lana, the expanded edition of SOS, has finally arrived. To nobody’s surprise, the eternal perfectionist was still tweaking the record when fans expected it to drop at midnight on Friday (December 20). Now, it is here in all its 38-song glory. The deluxe LP features 15 additional songs—including one titled “30 for 30,” featuring SZA’s friend and future tour mate Kendrick Lamar. The new album’s cover features a photo of SZA taken by Cassidy Meyers. Listen to SOS Deluxe: Lana in full below.

Read More

Nearly two dozen unhoused people in Louisville have faced bench warrants after they failed to appear in court for “unlawful camping,” as a result of the Safer Kentucky Act. Advocates say it's what they feared, but expected.

Read More

The housing crisis is often framed as a straightforward shortage of housing of any type, meaning any new supply is seen as good. But in Louisville, Kentucky as in many other places, the picture is really more nuanced. Every type of development does not benefit every type of resident.

Read More

Led by the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, Loretta Lees (Boston University), Kenton Card (Boston University, now the University of Minnesota), and Andre Comandon (University of Southern California) developed a new Anti-Displacement Assessment Tool (ADA Tool) to be implemented by the Louisville Metro Government. The ADA Tool was developed in collaboration with government officials, Councilmember Jecorey Arthur, and in discussions with the Louisville Tenants Union. This first-of-its-kind planning tool to protect low-income and marginalized groups from displacement passed unanimously tonight – November 21, 2024 – at a full Metro Council meeting.

Read More

YALift! provides young adults with a one-year, no strings attached foundation of financial stability. The pilot is collaboratively administered by Louisville Metro Government, Metro United Way, Russell: A Place of Promise, and Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI), and is focused on young adults in three neighborhoods of concentrated poverty: Smoketown, Russell, and California.

Read More

A dizzyingly fantastical lyricist, he has consistently challenged himself, first with his debut album, 2011’s Section.80, and continuing with good kid, m.A.A.d city. In 2018, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN, the first time a work outside of classical or jazz traditions was honored. Early next year, he will be headlining Super Bowl LIX.

Read More

The Kentucky General Assembly enacted a private school voucher program in 2021 and legislation was filed to expand the program before the state Supreme Court struck it down for violating Kentucky’s constitution. That decision led directly to the legislature putting Amendment 2 on the ballot.

Read More

For first-time voters in the 2024 election—11 by the time the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, rattled the country—that’s overwhelmingly the case. Yet, for all the familiarity with the politically absurd, it’s precisely this group’s relative youth during some of the most shocking and surreal moments of Trump’s first term that lends itself to the natural question: What parts struck a preteen at the time? Did the terms that rattled in adult brains for years—covfefe, Robert Mueller, Sharpie-gate, deep state—mean anything to a Trump-era kid?

Read More

Republicans on the House Administration Committee at a Wednesday hearing argued that legislation to bar people from voting who are not citizens — something already illegal — is what’s needed to prepare for the November elections. But Democratic secretaries of state in battleground states told committee members they are more concerned about the detailed threats they and their election workers are experiencing resulting from election misinformation.

Read More

Simmons College of Kentucky is holding the Louisville Freedom Summer, a new initiative to promote civic engagement and commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer.

Read More

Starting next month, more kids who are charged with violent crimes will be automatically prosecuted as adults. In Louisville, police data show most will be Black. During a legislative committee meeting in February, Sen. Matthew Deneen introduced a bill that he said would address an important issue in Kentucky — violent crime committed by kids.

Read More

A government program gave formerly enslaved people land after the Civil War, only to take nearly all of it back a year and a half later. We used artificial intelligence to track down the people, places, and stories that had long been misunderstood and forgotten, then asked their descendants about what’s owed now.

Read More

Simmons College of Kentucky is honoring the 60th anniversary of the Mississippi Freedom Summer with our very own Louisville Freedom Summer.

Read More

Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that desegregated public schools, stands in the collective national memory as a turning point in America’s fight for racial justice. But as the U.S. observes its 70th anniversary, Brown also represents something more somber: It ultimately led to thousands of Black teachers losing their jobs. Before Brown, Black teachers constituted 35% to 50% of the teacher workforce in segregated states. Today, Black people account for just 6.7% of America’s public K-12 teachers, even as Black children make up more than 15% of public school students.

Read More