The local chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, which has been active in demanding a fairness ordinance from the Bowling Green City Commission that would add protections in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, will open a local office.

Aeryn Darst, a member of KFTC’s Southern Kentucky chapter, said that after several years of growth, KFTC needs a dedicated meeting space.

“We just really wanted a space where our members could congregate,” she said. “It’s really helpful to have a central space.”

KFTC’s ability to assemble for meetings has recently been constrained due to the difficulty of finding adequate spaces, Darst said.

The advocacy group often meets at the Foundry Christian Community Center, though the center’s tendency to hold other programs and events means it isn’t always available when KFTC needs a meeting space, she said.

The chapter will also run a “community organizer apprenticeship program,” aimed at teaching members how to organize activist groups, out of the building, Darst said.

The new office is located in the Southern Kentucky Center for Nonprofits on Collett Avenue, across the street from the International Center of Bowling Green, and is supposed to open in a few weeks, she said.

Darst said the local KFTC chapter has grown in recent years mainly because the group, being roughly 35 years old and having a network of 13 chapters across the state, already has the infrastructure in place to attract and mobilize people interested in a local fairness ordinance, decreasing Kentucky’s dependence on coal while ensuring that former coal counties can transition to new economic opportunities, and KFTC’s other goals, she said.

“Kentuckians for the Commonwealth already has the framework and foundation in place for when people want to get involved in social justice,” she said.

According to KFTC’s website, the group has field offices in London, Berea, Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Prestonsburg and Whitesburg.

Via text, Molly Kaviar, KFTC’s southern Kentucky organizer, said the funding for the office’s rent “comes from KFTC’s statewide organizational budget, supported by our membership.”

Jeanie Smith, an alternate on KFTC’s steering committee, said the office will also serve as a convenient place to meet up with local officials during the group’s lobbying efforts.

Like Darst, Smith said the new office will help with making meetings easier to coordinate within an organization that has grown over the last five years or so.

“I am so glad that we have more people becoming involved with social justice. There’s a huge groundswell of people wanting to get involved,” she said. “I think it’s really exciting in this part of the state to have this sort of growth.”