In April 2020, Mayor Linda Gorton has announced a $40M Budget shortfall for the upcoming FY21 Budget due to Tax Revenue losses from the COVID-19 Crisis. In this Digital Town Hall, we discussed the implications this had on city services with Council Member Amanda Bledsoe, Chair of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee and Tyler Scott, Chief of Staff to Mayor Linda Gorton.

In times of crisis, the need for support systems for Basic Needs becomes can become more acute and clear to a wider audience. In this Digital Town Hall, we were joined by Sharon Price of Community Action Council and Michael Halligan of God's Pantry Food Bank to discuss how they are responding to this pandemic and what we can do to build a more resilient society once the threat of COVID-19 has cleared.

The entire purpose of most Performing Arts Organizations and many Visual Arts Organizations is to gather people together and share in the same cultural experience. In a time of social distancing, this becomes nearly impossible. In this Digital Town Hall, we discussed how the COVID-19 Crisis is impacting Non-Profit Arts Organizations, and what strategies organizations are using to still fulfill their mission. This Town Hall featured Allison Kaiser of the Lexington Philharmonic, Bo List of Athens West Theater, Emily Moses of the Kentucky Arts Council, and Ame Sweetall of LexArts.

News and information is an essential part of the public health landscape, especially during a crisis. The Lexington Herald-Leader has provided robust coverage of the COVID-19 crisis and has removed its paywall for any article related to the issue. In this Digital Town Hall, we'll talk with Peter Baniak, the Executive Editor and General Manager of the Lexington Herald-Leader about the steps they've taken to ensure information is reaching people and the challenges they face in this ecosystem moving forward.

This part of a series of Digital Town Halls that CivicLex has developed to keep people informed, engaged, and connected during a time of social distancing. All Town Halls are open to the public and are facilitated by CivicLex Staff. During the forum, participants will have opportunities to talk with each other about the topic at hand. Our Digital Town Halls have a maximum participation of 250.

----

CivicLex: https://civiclex.org

Subscribe to the Herald-Leader: https://account.kentucky.com/subscribe

The CivicLex Radio Hour is back!!! ...Sort of. 

CivicLex has launched a new program focused on bringing together people to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on our community in a way that is safe for everyone. While primarily a video service, we're distributing the recordings from the Town Halls via video on the web, and via audio on our podcast feed.

This CivicLex Digital Town Hall features Alexandra Canada from A Cup of Common Wealth, Dan Wu from Atomic Ramen, and Rebecca Self of Foodchain discussing the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on the Local Food Service Economy.

For more information on this episode's guests, visit the links below.

### Links ###

A Cup of Commonwealth: http://acupofcommonwealth.com

Atomic Ramen: http://www.theatomicramen.com

CivicLex: https://civiclex.org

Foodchain: http://foodchainlex.org

LEE Initiative: https://leeinitiative.org/#lex

The CivicLex Team discusses what's new at CivicLex - including CivicLex's new blog, and its participation in the national program Let's Make a Mark.

CivicLex is a non-profit organization that is working to build a more civically engaged community by providing better access to information and building stronger relationships between citizens, those who serve them, and the processes that impact them. 

This podcast is brought to you by The Blue Grass Community Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Lexington Community Radio, Anchor, and CivicLex Member Support.

Links links links:

CivicLex -> civiclex.org

Let's Make Mark National -> https://letsmakeamark.org

CivicLex Blog -> https://medium.com/@CivicLex

Support our work ->

The CivicLex Team sits down with Christian Motley of the New Leaders Council and Russell Allen of The Plantory and Take Back Cheapside to reflect on our joint 2019 On The Table... tables. We talk about Belonging in the context of Data, Nonprofits, Boards, and Journalism.

CivicLex is a non-profit organization that is working to build a more civically engaged community by providing better access to information and building stronger relationships between citizens, those who serve them, and the processes that impact them. 

This podcast is brought to you by The Blue Grass Community Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Lexington Community Radio, Anchor, and CivicLex Member Support.

Links links links:

CivicLex -> civiclex.org

New Leaders Council -> newleaderscouncil.org/kentucky#fellows

Plantory -> plantory.org

CivicLex/NLC/Plantory On The Table notes -> civiclex.org/on-the-table

Get On Board -> plantory.org/get-on-board

More about On The Table -> bgcf.org/onthetable

Support our work ->

CivicLex Radio Hour is back in 2019 with a new live show format, developed in partnership with 93.9FM Lexington Community Radio! CivicLex Radio Hour airs live every Friday at 11am on WLXU.

This episode, recorded on March 15th, features Andrea James talking about On The Table, and Graham Pohl talking about the Board of Architectural Review and the Lexington Planning Commission. 

CivicLex is a non-profit organization that is working to build a more civically engaged community by providing better access to information and building stronger relationships between citizens, those who serve them, and the processes that impact them. 

This podcast is brought to you by The Blue Grass Community Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Lexington Community Radio, and CivicLex Member Support.

Support our work at​ patreon.com/civiclex

In November of 2018, CivicLex distributed a city-wide survey asking what residents considered to be major issues within twelve sectors of city government and policy. 

When we looked at the survey responses, we  found that respondents placed wage growth for low wage workers in Lexington as their priority issue.  

In this episode, we interviewed Dustin Pugel, a policy analyst at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, about wage growth in Lexington and the state, and Elodie Dickinson, the city's Workforce Development Program Manager, about the program and how it's helping workers in the city. 

Read more about the issue at our website CivicLex.org

Visit KCEP and learn more about their work.

Check out Lexington's Workforce Development Program and their partnerships with businesses and organizations throughout the city.