Members of the Poor People's Campaign being barred from entering the state capitol building in July 2018.
The Poor People's Campaign is coming to west Kentucky to highlight issues involving criminal justice reform and lack of affordable housing.
Organizer Megan Meyer said the tour starts with a press conference in front of the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville discussing the need for criminal justice reform. A short march in Hopkinsville highlighting a need for affordable housing in the city will follow. The tour concludes in Bowling Green with a dinner held by Reverend Megan Houston.
Meyer said the Campaign wants to highlight poverty issues in the region. "Poverty is something that is so systematically hard to get out of especially in these rural communities where there are a lack of jobs," she said.
The Poor People's Campaign has held several demonstrations in Frankfort over the past year. The organization was denied access to the capitol building for weeks last summer before being allowed inside following a legal opinion from Attorney General Andy Beshear who said it was illegal to keep them out.
The group recently protested an emergency regulation signed by Governor Matt Bevin that impacts public access to state buildings and facilities.
The Poor People's Campaign West Kentucky tour begins April 29 at 1:00 p.m. in Eddyville. The march in Hopkinsville begins at 3:00 and the BBQ dinner in Bowling Green is scheduled to begin at 5:30.
It was a busy week in Frankfort with Gov. Matt Bevin's State of the Commonwealth address, new developments on an election contest for a statehouse seat and protesters from the Poor People's Campaign finally getting a meeting with the governor.