This is the fifth of several youth talk shows WFPL has planned as part of The Next Louisville, supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky. In it, students Fernanda Scharfenberger, Bayley Amburgey, Scotty Monteith and Nia Douglas talk about the environment, climate activism and what they'd like to see politicians do to address the climate crisis.  This conversation was part of the Next Louisville, which is supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky...and by you! Click here to support our work.

The Next Louisville: Youth Talk Environment

This is the fourth of several youth talk shows WFPL has planned as part of The Next Louisville, supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky. In it, students Zina Alyasseri, Zainab Alyasseri, Sean Waddell and Tyce Hall talk education: what they think about what they’ve learned in schools, which teachers have gone above and beyond and where they feel the local education system has room for improvement.  This conversation was part of the Next Louisville, which is supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky...and by you! Click here to support our work. +

The Next Louisville: Youth Talk Education

This is the third of several youth talk shows WFPL has planned as part of The Next Louisville, supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky. In it, students Emily Slaven and Ariana Tulay have a frank conversation about the stigma talking about mental health sometimes carries, and how they feel their schools have fallen short in supporting students seeking help.
This conversation was part of the Next Louisville, which is supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky...and by you! Click here to support our work. +

The Next Louisville: Youth Talk Mental Health

On May 23, we held an hour-long discussion in our performance studio on young adult homelessness. Joining us were Natalie Harris of the Coalition for the Homeless, Joe Hamilton of the Home of the Innocents and Metro Chief Resilience Officer Eric Friedlander. Also joining us was Jasmine Ellington, who used to be homeless but now has found housing. This conversation was part of the Next Louisville, which is supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville...and by you! Click here to support our work.

The Next Louisville: Diving Deeper Into Young Adult Homelessness

Young adulthood is a formative phase of life, but for those experiencing homelessness, it can be especially challenging. The number of young adults without housing in Louisville is lower than it was, but local organizations are working to push the figure down even more. And upcoming federal funding is expected to help them do that.
In this installment of The Next Louisville, WFPL’s Amina Elahi explores why homeless young adults face different challenges than other age groups.

The Next Louisville: For Vulnerable Young Adults, Ending Homelessness Requires Dedicated Effort

In this installment of the Next Louisville, just in time for Derby week, we meet a young Guatemalan immigrant to Louisville who found her first job tending horses on the backside of Churchill Downs. This student is part of a local Latino tradition that is uniquely Louisville.  The Next Louisville is a partnership between Louisville Public Media and the Community Foundation of Louisville.

The Next Louisville: This Young Guatemalan Immigrant's Story Is Uniquely Louisville

This is the second of several youth talk shows WFPL has planned as part of The Next Louisville, supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky. It features four youth from our community talking about volunteerism.

The Next Louisville: Youth Talk Community Service And Volunteerism

Kentucky youth are mobilizing to take action on climate change. In this installment of the Next Louisville--a partnership between 89.3 WFPL and the Community Foundation of Louisville--we follow a 17-year-old high school student and a 24-year-old community organizer as they try to confront Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his stance on the Green New Deal, a science-based proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the worst-impacts of climate change.

The Next Louisville: Kentucky Kids And Climate Change

This is the first of several youth talk shows WFPL has planned as part of The Next Louisville, supported by the Community Foundation of Louisville and WE Day Kentucky; it features four youth from our community talking about race and identity.

The Next Louisville: Black Youth Talk Race And Identity

Traumatic experiences - like what the Tyus family in Louisville has been through - are associated with long-term consequences, including health problems and behavioral outbursts in school. And trauma can affect YOUNG people more severely than adults. In this edition of The Next Louisville, WFPL's Kyeland Jackson looks at the effects of trauma on young people in Louisville.

The Next Louisville: The Effect Of Violence And Trauma On The City’s Kids

The term “contact sport” probably conjures images of traditionally masculine activities like football or men’s hockey. But in Louisville, there's another option: the River City Junior Roller Derby team.
As WFPL’s Ashlie Stevens reports as part of the Next Louisville, the members of this team are young, and predominantly female. And they're learning to embrace their own toughness -- both on and off the rink.

The Next Louisville: Roller Derby Helps Local Youth Skate Towards Self-Esteem

The play "Pipeline" tells the story of Omari, a young black teenager, and the fallout after he shoves a teacher at his elite private school. This hour-long conversation unpacks the larger issues that inform the play, like the so-called "school-to-prison pipeline" for black youth. It includes a conversation with actors Cecil Blutcher, who plays Omari,  and Patrese D. McClain, who plays his mother, Nya, as well as a community conversation taped live at Actors Theatre featuring:
Darryl Young Jr. of the Muhammad Ali Center;
Yvette Gentry — formerly with the Louisville Metro Police Department — who now works with Metro United Way’s Black Male Achievement initiative;
Sayheed Ashanti, a community activist and the father of four JCPS students;
Jaleyah Morton, president of the Black Student Union at Male High School;
Holly Houston, a family lawyer in Louisville.

The Next Louisville: Let’s Talk About ‘Pipeline’

For the latest installment of The Next Louisville — a partnership with the Community Foundation of Louisville — Louisville Public Media Interim President Stephen George interviewed Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds. The event was held in early May before a live audience in our studios. Reynolds spoke about a recent report released by the Urban League called “The State of Black Louisville.”

The Next Louisville: A Conversation With Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds

Several of Louisville’s poorest neighborhoods are marked by concentrated poverty, created by factors like low income, few jobs, poor education and bad health. This means many residents are stuck in places like Russell and Portland. But others choose to stay.

The Next Louisville: Why West Louisville’s Poverty Doesn’t Define It

Public transit can be a desirable, and affordable, commute option for city dwellers without cars. But in Louisville, taking a bus often means making a significant time investment. And experts and observers say a lack of extensive transit options can keep people from job opportunities.

The Next Louisville: When Bus Routes Determine Job Prospects

For generations, houses of worship across all denominations have played a prominent role in helping those in need in struggling neighborhoods and beyond.
Sean Cannon | wfpl.org
The Next Louisville: Poverty & Progress
That not only includes providing food, clothing and shelter, but offering programs that address the underlying issues that contribute to social problems such as violence and drug abuse. Government leaders, including Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, have been calling on religious groups to take a more prominent role in battling these problems.
In this installment of the Next Louisville: Poverty and Progress, I visited some neighborhood church groups to talk about the challenges they face, and some of their success stories.

The Next Louisville: The Role Of Churches In Struggling Communities

Like most American cities, Louisville’s neighborhoods have been shaped by the past century of housing policies. And those policies have helped accentuate economic divides, creating today’s map of economic inequality.
That’s examined nationally in “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein — a comprehensive look at government-guided segregation across America.
In the book, Rothstein lists example after example of the ways federal, state and local government enacted policies that dictated where African-American people lived, and the ways their families were allowed to accrue wealth.
Sean Cannon | wfpl.org
The Next Louisville: Poverty & Progress
Last year, Louisvillereleased an interactive map showing the redlining created by the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation that guided home loans in the 1930s. The maps also show how those policies have resulted in today’s segregated neighborhoods, and the clusters of concentrated poverty in some parts of West Louisville.
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Here’s How You Can Help Address Louisville’s Legacy Of Racist Housing Policies
](https://wfpl.org/city-takes-steps-to-examine-effects-of-redlining/)
On Monday, Rothstein will speak about redlining and his book at 7:00 p.m. at Crescent Hill Baptist Church. It’s part of Empower West’s city-wide book read. The group is a coalition of Louisville pastors and churches, focused on empowering the city’s West End.
I sat down separately with three of the pastors involved in Empower West — Joe Phelps of Highland Baptist Church, Erica Whitaker of Buechel Park Baptist Church and F. Bruce Williams of Bates Memorial Baptist Church — to talk about the book and the legacy of redlining in Louisville. Listen in the player above, or read below.
Erica Whitaker: Redlining is a government action of segregating and drawing literal and figurative lines to separate black and white people in different neighborhoods.
Joe Phelps: Rothstein builds case upon case to illustrate how local, state and federal governments worked to really keep black people out of certain areas and force them into certain areas.
F. Bruce Williams: I think what African-American people will say is “We’ve been telling you this all along.”
EW: As I read page to page, I just feel kind of this deep anger, towards what has taken place relatively not so long ago.
FBW: I think every person of color who’s reasonably awake knows intuitively that’s the case because of experiences they may have. For example, trying to get a loan for a house and not being able to get the loan.
JP: Back in the 30s and 40s when the redline maps were drawn, west Louisville was carved out as a less desirable place. They were having trouble with flooding, this was after the flood, and that was also where the industry was, so let’s put the black people there.
EW: Something that I read in the book was understanding kind of the GI bill and the New Deal and how that was only for the white Americans. The American Dream was only offe

The Next Louisville: Redlining’s Complicated Legacy

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said Wednesday that he will unveil a new city-wide cleanliness initiative this spring that he hopes will address disparities in litter problems.
In an interview Wednesday, Fischer said an assessment is already underway using city data, social media and community input to determine areas that need “concentrated help” to be more “clean and green.”
“Cleanliness sets the tone for a city,” he said. “It’s an emphasis for every part of the city to be clean.”
The announcement follows a WFPL story that found areas plagued most by trash often lack public trash bins. A review of city data showed that 73 percent of all trash-related complaints reported to the city’s MetroCall 311 service last year were not within one block of a trash can. And 41 percent of those locations had no trash bin within two blocks.
Many of these areas are home to the city’s poorest residents. Some said they feel neglected by city leaders who’d rather invest resources in tourist hotspots than neighborhoods.
“They don’t care about poor people,” said Mandy Cissell.
Jacob Ryan
Sharon Cissell (right) stands on her porch with Mandy Cissell (center) and William Cissell (left).
She lives in the Taylor Berry neighborhood, where 91 percent of 340 trash-related problems reported last year were not within one block of a city trash bin, data show.
Fischer said reviewing the location of public trash bins as it relates to trash complaints “is an important data point,” but he wasn’t sure if that’s part of the process underway now.
“If it’s not being done, it will be done,” he said. “These are all good questions.”
Fischer said his administration is “looking at all the data that has to do with being clean and being green and developing ways to be cleaner and greener.”
‘Cleanliness Index’ measure underway
The city’s public works department has been assessing cleanliness issues since early 2016, said Pete Flood, the department’s compliance and enforcement manager.
City crews have been partnering with residents in the Shelby Park and Smoketown neighborhoods to scour the streets and alleys and come up with a “cleanliness index,” he said. The index is based, largely, on observation — not existing data, he said.
The efforts in Shelby Park and Smoketown will serve as a pilot for Fischer’s citywide initiative, Flood said.
Sean Cannon | wfpl.org
The Next Louisville: Poverty & Progress
Crews soon will begin to implement specific initiatives in these neighborhoods in hopes of reducing trash and bettering the index, he said. Options include more trash bins in residential areas, providing residents with larger waste containers for curbside pick-up and reworking collection schedules, Flood said.
“We feel like we are onto something,” Flood said.
Currently, the city is responsible for 980 public trash bins across the city, according to data provided by city officials. A majority of the bins are clustered in dow

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer Promises To Address City’s Trash Problem

Sharon Cissell squints her eyes and points out to the street.
From her porch, she can see just beyond the curb, where a needle lies next to a discarded paper cup. The needle’s bright orange cap is an unmistakable, yet unremarkable, sight in the Taylor Berry neighborhood, just west of Churchill Downs.
Jacob Ryan
Sharon Cissell (right) stands on her porch with Mandy Cissell (center) and William Cissell (left).
Cissell said the needles can be found along sidewalks, in yards and down alleys — a common piece of litter in a neighborhood besieged by trash.
“If it looked better, it might make a difference,” she said.
Cissell worries the neighborhood’s physical state welcomes the addicts and small-time crooks that plague the litter-filled streets. She’s complained, along with many of her neighbors, but still, the issue persists.
City data show residents in Taylor Berry report instances of litter at one of the highest rates in the city. Though city officials have closed nearly all of the complaint cases, the trash remains.
A review of city trash bin locations shows that, in 91 percent of the 340 complaints in Taylor Berry, there’s no public trash can on the block.
This isn’t unique to Taylor Berry. Across the city, data show trash piles up in parts of town with the fewest public trash cans. In fact, 73 percent of all trash complaints reported to the city’s MetroCall 311 service are not within one block of a trash can, the data show. And 41 percent of those locations had no trash bin within two blocks.
Cissell said the absence of trash bins sends a message: her street just isn’t a priority like those in the growing downtown Central Business District, with 110 trash bins per mile — 101 more than her neighborhood.
Alexandra Kanik | wfpl.org
More Trash Cans in Tourist Areas
The city has scattered 980 public trash bins across Louisville, according to data provided by city officials.
The metal trash cans provided by the city’s Public Works department typically cost between $600 and $1,200 to buy and install, city records show.
Harold Adams, a spokesman for the city’s Public Works department, provided a map of public trash bins, but did not respond to multiple requests for follow-up interviews. Therefore, it’s unclear who decides where to put trash bins or how it’s done or if city agencies are considering ways to address the issue.
Louisville Metro Council records show some council members can designate trash cans for their districts, but they must use limited discretionary funds to do so.
Most public trash cans are clustered in downtown, along Central Avenue near Churchill Downs, up and down Bardstown Road, in NuLu and near Slugger Field — all pedestrian hot spots where tourists often congregate. City crews periodically empty the cans and the waste ends up in the landfill, instead of littered along roads and neighborhoods.
But in some areas, there are none. On a 12-block stretch along 26th Street in the Russell neighborhood, a per

The Next Louisville: What Trash Cans Tell Us About Poverty In Louisville

Phyllis Atiba Brown is in the kitchen of the Spradling Urban Development Center in Smoketown; a small, concrete daycare facility decorated with wooden cut-outs of “Rugrats” characters and animal posters. She’s making trays of macaroni and cheese and chicken tenders for the dozen or so kids who are staying late into the evening.
They’re here as part of a new program called “Smoketown Synergy.”
“We started it last year when the Presbyterian Community Center was sold to the board of education and we kept getting the runaround about who was going to do what and where our kids were going to meet,” Brown says. “We decided to open the building in the evenings so that the children would have somewhere to go.”
Brown says when she was a kid growing up in Smoketown in the 1960s that wasn’t really a problem.
“You could go out your door, go to the playground, playing,” Brown says. “You didn’t have to worry about strangers and danger.”
But a lack of accessible, safe playground and park space is the reality in the neighborhood despite new housing developments.
J. Tyler Franklin | wfpl.org
Some of the open green space Brown mentions.
The area used to be home to the Sheppard Square public housing complex, which had a lot of problems — but Brown says one thing the old ‘projects’ did have was several playgrounds.  
“They almost had a playground every other block where kids could congregate, play on the swings, had open fields for ballgames and those kind of things,” she says.
Now, there’s a brand new mixed-income development on the site. It’s an improvement in many ways, but Brown says while there’s a lot of open green space, it’s not necessarily being used by neighborhood kids.
“There are many homeless people,” she says. “We have maybe three or four transition houses in this area and they put them out at a certain time and they have to be out until it is time to come back. They literally walk the streets and a lot of times they take up residence in the open space that the children are supposed to have to play in.”
The city announced that there will be a new “pocket park” developed on a former vacant lot in the neighborhood. Initiatives like this are great for increasing green space, which has many benefits — but it doesn’t address Brown’s concern about playgrounds.
And the closest large park to Smoketown is Shelby Park, which is a nearly 20-minute walk, so it’s not really a viable option for younger neighborhood children.
J. Tyler Franklin | wfpl.org
The slide at Ballard Park.
“They have one other park on Caldwell Street called Ballard Park, but it’s not really equipped to hold many,” she says. “I think it has maybe three swings and a slide, half of a basketball court — so that’s about all we have in the Smoketown neighborhood.”
Louisville’s Parks Problem
Louisville is a city that prides itself on its parks, and when you visit many neighborhood parks, you totally understand why.

The Next Louisville

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