Contact: Melissa Forsythe or Ron Bingham
For immediate release March 2, 1999

Kentucky Makes Finding Services As Easy As "Click"

Finding information can be a hair-pulling, frustrating process, but in Kentucky, it just became easier. Want to find a summer camp for your kids? Looking for transportation for someone with disabilities? Want to know where to locate a water aerobics program? It’s at your fingertips.

Governor Paul Patton announced today that the Kentucky Resource Directory, the first of its kind in the country, is online and just a click of the mouse away. The directory’s an internet database of some 45-thousand services available in the commonwealth, at the federal, state, local and private level.

"Whether you’re looking for a job or trying to locate a building where a state service is available, you’ll be able to locate that information through the Kentucky Resource Directory web site", Governor Patton said. "This Empower Kentucky initiative is designed to bring together people and resources in the most efficient way. " Governor Patton pointed out that internet access is available to people in every county through public libraries.

While other states have directories available online, Kentucky’s web site is the only one in the nation that offers private as well as public agency information from an estimated 14-thousand providers. You can find phone numbers, detailed maps, even photographs of the buildings where the service is located. The information for the directory was first compiled by the Kentucky Council of Area Development Districts, beginning two years ago, funded by a Kentucky Information Resource Management grant. Kentucky’s Cabinets for Families and Children, Health Services, Workforce Development , Department of Information Systems, and Jefferson County’s Community Resource Network compiled additional electronic data.

The cost of the project is about $200-thousand, funded by Governor Patton’s Empower Kentucky program, to streamline and improve state government services. You can access the Kentucky Resource directory page now, and it will be completely online by April 1, 1999.

This project is the latest advancement in a state becoming nationally recognized for technological prowess and availability of electronic information.

The web address for the Kentucky Resource Directory is http://kydir.state.ky.us/cfcsrd/Default.htm