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United Way of Central Kentucky is once again partnering with co-op students from the Altec Reach Higher Committee to support an area non-profit.
UWCK Director of Development Brianne Smith says the two organizations will be working this week to enhance the outdoor space at Project L.E.A.R.N., a learning center for mentally handicapped adults.
“We’re bringing in some concrete to create a handicapped, accessible walkway, and then we’ll have a concrete pad that will house several different sensory tables that Altec has designed and they’ll be constructing,” Smith said. “They’re bringing in some new picnic tables, some swings that are weather resistant. They’re going to do a couple of planter boxes and do some landscaping work, and additionally they are painting a large mural on the side of the building.”
The Altec Reach Higher Committee features interns from different colleges who are matched with a non-profit on a project that needs completed. Past projects completed by students from the committee include the zen garden at the Hardin County Schools College View campus and the pavilion at the United Way’s community garden.
“We love what we do,” Smith said. “We’re very proud of our work and working with Altec, and this committee has just brought me such joy. We’ve seen so many projects benefit our nonprofit partners and the community, so we’re really, really excited about this one.”
Find more information on Project L.E.A.R.N. on their Facebook page, and learn more about the United Way of Central Kentucky’s mission at www.unitedwayck.org.
City of Elizabethtown Director of Planning and Development Aaron Hawkins told the Elizabethtown City Council last week that the Downtown Master Plan, which the planning department has been developing over the last year, consists of a developmental toolkit and an action plan which features three major projects: redesigning the downtown Public Square, a flex street on South Main Street to connect the new city hall complex to the Public Square, and a boardwalk area for Valley Creek.
Hawkins said the plan eliminates the 27 parking spaces currently in the Public Square, which combined with converting the traffic pattern to a roundabout increases safety and increases pedestrian activity.
“It gives, on all four quadrants of our square, the ability to not only add public space and pedestrian space, but also add things like art quadrants or sculptures or fountains or landscaping,” Hawkins said. “Things to beautify the square, not only to make it safer for pedestrians to walk throughout the businesses and around the square, but also to just make it more enjoyable in general.”
The city has plans for a new city hall complex between South Main Street and Mulberry Street, and the plan includes features to temporarily close South Main Street for city events, which allows city events to take place without closing Dixie Avenue to traffic. The flex street keeps the new City Hall connected to the downtown area.
Hawkins said the Valley Creek boardwalk gives the city a water feature that is a common feature to downtown areas.
“The concept and the thought is to create a boardwalk of sorts along Valley Creek that not only has an active portion down below right off the creek where you can funnel hikers and bikers and walkers through, but also a second tier on the back sides of buildings that creates more of a pedestrian plaza type area where the businesses can utilize that to have store fronts along the boardwalk on the creek, not just store fronts on the road,” Hawkins said.
The plan will be submitted to the city’s Planning Commission and the City Council for adoption. More information on the plan is available on the city’s website.
Unemployment rates in the Lincoln Trail District in January saw increases from December, but are down compared to the year prior.
The Kentucky Center for Statistics says unemployment rates decreased in all 120 counties when comparing January 2026 with January 2025.
The state unemployment average for January was 4.4 percent. That’s up from the 3.5 percent average reported in December and down from the January 2025 average of 5.2 percent.
Hardin County’s unemployment rate for January came in above the state average at 4.8 percent. That is an increase from the December rate of 4.1 percent but a decrease from January 2025 when the rate was reported at 5.8 percent.
The unemployment average for the Lincoln Trail District in January was 4.8 percent. Grayson County posted the highest unemployment rate in the district at 5.9 percent. Washington County posted the lowest unemployment rate in the district at 3.8 percent.
Learn more about how the unemployment rate is calculated and find more labor market information by visiting kystats.ky.gov.