League of Women Voters of Berea and Madison County will kickoff its fall season by examining “Long-Term Trends & Public Policy: Are we prepared for the future?” Michael T. Childress, executive director of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, will be the featured speaker.
The meeting will be held Monday, Sept.14 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Madison County Public Library in Berea. The public is welcome to attend, and the League hopes public officials will also take advantage of this opportunity especially since all three local governments will be revising their Comprehensive Land Use plans in 2010.
The state government agency which Childress directs was created by the General Assembly in 1992 to bring a future-oriented perspective to decision-making in the Commonwealth. The work of the Center includes research, policy analysis, communications with all branches of government and public outreach.
Childress became the first executive director of the Center in 1993. He oversees the Center's numerous research activities and has written many of the Center’s reports. The Center publishes a biennial trends report, a widely used compilation of benchmarks that have measured the state’s progress since 1994.
One Kentucky legislator described the report as "one of the most useful tools available to policymakers at every level. It’s an accessible guide for anyone who wants to improve the lives of Kentuckians.”
The report also includes results from statewide surveys that measure public opinion about the progress of citizen goals for the state and the relative importance of each. A “State of the Commonwealth” index provides the Center’s quantitative analysis of the state’s status relative to other states.
For the past five years, LWVBMC has used the theme “Madison County 2025: What’s Your Vision?” to focus its local agenda.
Our vision statement for Madison County addresses Planning & Development, Governance, Energy & Environment, Social Justice, Taxation, Education & Youth and Health & Welfare. A copy of the vision statement and additional information about the League is available at: http://lwvbmc.org.
