Executive Committee Corner

As part of KFTC’s organizational change initiative, we’ve been asking our members: who do we want to be to manifest our vision?

In the spring of this year, over one hundred members participated in a series of conversations to begin to answer that fundamental question. They created a vivid description of our future and an audacious goal to help guide us forward:

2031 Vivid Description: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is a collective light, leading the way to a thriving, joyful, intergenerational, multi-cultural society where people are free from oppression and where equity, health care, and racial, economic and environmental justice exist for everyone. We are a beloved community where all people are connected and affirmed through healthy relationships, dedicated to achieving mutual liberation.

2031 Audacious Goal: Guided by Black, Indigenous, People of Color and impacted communities, recruit, equip, and activate a network of 100,000 members and partners across all 120 counties to dismantle racism and all systems of oppression, to develop a robust democracy and transform the future of Kentucky.

Since then, KFTC staff – including eight new organizers – have been orienting the organization’s program of work to these goals. Management and staff agreed to our first staff union contract. And our new Steering Committee is using these goals as a North Star as they set priorities and direction for the year ahead.

We’ve launched a statewide, climate justice deep canvassing project that is helping us reach more people in more places. And we’ve moved resources to twenty Just Transition Organizing Fellows leading self-directed organizing projects at the intersection of racial, economic, and climate justice in Kentucky.

Our staff and leaders have been deepening our alignment and skilling up. And it will take all of us to create the KFTC – and Kentucky – of our vision. That’s why we’re inviting members and partners, who are ready and willing, to own and help advance these goals. Talk to your local organizer, or another KFTC leader or staff person, if you have questions or ideas.

Ready to get to work building the next KFTC? Join the conversation about our vivid description and audacious goal in your local chapter or issue committee. Get involved in the work to build our skills and center racial justice in the 2022 General Assembly, primary elections, and beyond. Be on the lookout for upcoming opportunities, find the places where your talents meet this work, and invite others to do the same. We know we can do this because we are the leaders we are looking for. Last month, KFTC’s executive director, Burt Lauderdale, retired after 38 years of exceptional organizing and leadership. And in his farewell letter, he affirmed his belief that KFTC’s best days are ahead. If we’re successful in reaching the goals of our organizational change initiative, we will have a more equitable and stronger organization. And Kentucky will be a more equitable state.

Thank you!

Tiff & Alan

Tiff Duncan Co-Chairperson

Alan Smith Co-Chairperson

KFTC’s executive leadership sits at the intersection of our member leaders and our staff team. Finding executive leadership who will oversee and champion movement toward our 10-year goal is a critical component of our change initiative.

KFTC is looking for one or two Executive Directors who are passionate about member-led grassroots organizing and racial justice to lead the organization in building power in Kentucky.

Ideal candidates have strong roots and relationships in Kentucky, 5+ years of experience in key areas such as community organizing, fundraising, and staff supervision, and the passion and skills to help KFTC evolve from a mostly white organization with 10 local chapters to one guided by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and other impacted communities with members and partners across all 120 counties.