Advocacy

Our Advocacy

The Nest – Center for Women, Children, and Families

The organization streamlined the work of both entities into one that could provide high quality, comprehensive services to women, children, and families in crisis while working to prevent child abuse and neglect. The center has continually offered resources for families to develop the skills and education needed for a healthier lifestyle and self-sufficiency.

The mission of The Nest is to provide a safe place for education, counseling, and support to children and families in crisis. We are different than most nonprofits by the way we focus on FOUR separate programs that work together using a holistic approach for the whole family.

All our programs at The Nest, are provided for FREE. Together, these four programs provide a safe and nurturing place for families. We hope to become one of the leading resources for building a strong, self-sufficient community.

The Nest Child Care Center provides drop-in child care to accommodate parents and guardians who are under stress, have appointments to attend to, or need time for self-care. This service allows parents and guardians who have no support system to have a safe and nurturing place to take their children

We are an advocacy agency committed to ending intimate partner abuse in families and the community. 

Our specially trained crisis counselors are available to help people harmed by intimate partner abuse at any time of the day, every day of the year. Our main facility is situated on a beautiful 40-acre property in rural Fayette County. From this location and two additional offices in our service area, we provide an array of crisis intervention and stabilization services: 24-hour hotline

• emergency shelter
• legal advocacy
• individual and group support
• medical and dental treatment
• budget and credit counseling
• supportive housing services
• transportation assistance

Nurturing lives harmed.

Our services are based on the trauma-informed care model. This means we honor that everyone responds to and heals from trauma in different ways. What makes us truly special is the opportunity to be out in the fresh air on a beautiful 40-acre farm that surrounds our emergency shelter. 

Growing flowers and fruits, vegetables, and herbs while growing strong in body and mind. Eating food fresh from the garden models good nutrition and healthy eating habits for parents and kids. Adults living in our shelter have the participate on the farm should they choose, in exchange for a small stipend. We also offer other out-of-the-box activities like yoga and journaling to stretch and develop body and mind.

We are community-driven and supported.

We believe domestic violence is a community issue. Every individual has the right to live a safe, violence-free life. Our innovative approach to survivor services has received several recent awards:

• National Mary Byron Project Celebration Solutions Award
• Kentucky Nonprofit Network 2013 Innovative Nonprofit Award
• Center for Nonprofit Excellence Pyramid Award for Social Innovation
• National finalist in the Partnership for Freedom Re-imagine Opportunity competition

Promoting The Successful Reentry Of Ex-Offenders Into Our Communities.

The Bluegrass Reentry Council (BRC) came about in April 2009 and we conduct our monthly meetings in Lexington. We initially started with about 10 people at our first meeting and as of July 2013, we have over 300 members. 

The BRC is still young and growing, but we will be reaching out to all of the counties within the Bluegrass Area Development District. They are Anderson, Franklin, Woodford, Mercer, Boyle, Lincoln, Garrard, Jessamine, Fayette, Scott, Harrison, Bourbon, Nicholas, Clark, Madison, Powell, and Estill.

The Bluegrass Reentry Council is a Non-Profit Organization and you can make a donation here. 

We meet at National College, 2376 Sir Barton Way in Lexington, Kentucky from 2 pm to 3:30 pm. Click here for a list of our 2015 meeting dates. The meeting location and times may be subject to change because of unusual circumstances, so please contact us to ensure no changes have been made.

Click here for a map that shows all of the councils and task forces.