All Kentuckians have endured great stressors since March 2020. Essential workers in Kentucky have received minimal benefits while on the frontline, risking our health, struggling with burnout, and coping with the negative effect CV-19 is having on our mental health and the mental wellbeing of our families. Conversely, those receiving unemployment are sometimes misjudged and do not receive a livable wage but are present for their children. All have equally suffered.

Essential workers live in constant fear of their children being without childcare and go to work knowing their teens live their lives in isolation with no increase in pay or incentives. Those who are receiving unemployment live in constant fear of losing their UI.

Governor Beshear, your swift actions throughout the pandemic set an example for other states, saved countless lives and many families from grieving the loss of loved ones. You hold power to influence yet another paradigm shift during this uncertain time. Rather than supplemental unemployment payments and incentives to reenter the workforce for Kentuckians, please consider a mutually exclusive perspective. Supplemental wage benefits would recognize the efforts of essential workers and be the incentive for those who are unemployed to reenter the workforce. Every state leader and Kentuckian would irrefutably identify you for beginning what you refer to as a “new normal.”

Please share this petition throughout the state of Kentucky.

This author's goal is to advocate for all Kentuckians because CV-19 has impacted everyone in innumerable ways.

“The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power” ― Wael Ghonim.