Our Work

VOCAL-KY will build power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness in order to create healthy and just communities. We accomplish this through community organizing, leadership development, advocacy, direct services, participatory research and direct action on the following issues:

Drug Policy

Drug Policy

What we’re fighting for This Session:

  • Peer Support Certification & Supervision,  (Sponsor) HB 470: Would require behavioral health multi-specialty groups for peer support services to only employ specifically qualified alcohol and drug peer support specialists.
  • Buprenorphine Regulations (Adams) SB 82: Would reduce regulatory barriers to medication-assisted treatment and make it easier for Kentuckians to access evidence-based care during the overdose crisis.
  • Buprenorphine Regulations (Wilner)  HB 153: Advances a harm reduction approach to substance use by removing unnecessary state regulatory barriers that limit access to lifesaving medications like buprenorphine.
Ending Homelessness

Ending Homelessness

What we’re fighting for This SEssion:

  • Welcome Home: Dismissed eviction expungement (HB 338): This bill will create an automatic process to seal dismissed eviction filings, prohibit minors from being listed in eviction cases, and provide a path to clear past records for children, giving Kentuckians a real second chance.
  • Yes, In God’s Backyard (Pollock, Stalker, Chester-Burton) HB 333: “It allows for churches to build on their property, build affordable housing, and circumvent local zoning laws like parking requirements and size of the apartments, but still have to follow the building codes.
  • Housing Trust Fund (Bratcher, Witten, Hancock, Kulkarni, White) HB 411: Would modernize and increase certain county clerk fees, including tripling a one-time $12 fee charged at the closing of a home purchase to $36, with part of the additional revenue dedicated to the Kentucky Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic

Ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic

What we’re fighting for:

  • Decriminalizing testing and treatment options for people living with HIV — HB 349

Facts:

  • Based on CDC data, there were 7,638 people living with HIV in Kentucky in 2019, and another 326 people were diagnosed in the same year. We know the COVID-19 pandemic has likely worsened this crisis.
Mass Incarceration

Mass Incarceration

What we’re fighting for This Session:

  • Clean Slate: The Clean Slate legislation would increase access to expungement by implementing an automated process that would eliminate fees, relieving people of the burdens of requesting and paying for expungement.
  • Family Preservation (HB 464): This bill encourages the use of community-based alternatives for Kentuckians who are parenting minor children and convicted of low-level drug and property crimes.