What is Northern Kentucky?
If you ask LINK nky, it’s Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties (at least, that’s our coverage area).
If you ask The Northern Kentucky Health Department, the region is made up of Boone, Campbell, Kenton and Grant counties.
The Census also includes Gallatin, Pendleton and Bracken counties in that list.
This story is part of our latest Super Issue, which takes a look at what it costs NKY to stay separate. Click here to learn more.
Do these varied definitions of what counties make up Northern Kentucky make it difficult to obtain federal, state or nonprofit funding to the area?
What local leaders have described as a roadblock to vital funding for cities, counties, nonprofits and everything in between is one of the reasons some have been advocating for years for some sort of consolidation.
“To anyone that has recently moved here or a visiting tourist, Northern Kentucky looks like one big place,” NKY Chamber President Brent Cooper told LINK nky in 2019. “In my opinion, we are.”
Cooper is still championing consolidation.
“We’re bigger than Bowling Green and Lexington combined,” Cooper said in a recent interview. “I want people to know it.”
Cooper said the region shouldn’t allow legislators or anyone else to be confused about how big Northern Kentucky is.
One huge reason?
The idea that that confusion may, in turn, affect federal, state and nonprofit funding.
“It’s impossible to know what we’re missing out on,” Cooper said. “These grants don’t come out and say, ‘See, you didn’t apply, and so you lost X amount of money.’”
How does it work?
The way decisions are made about who gets what federal and state funding is … complicated.
Tara Johnson-Noem would know.
She’s the executive director of the Northern Kentucky Area Development District, a coalition of local officials and personnel who collaborate across eight NKY counties.
“We access large, complex state and federal grants,” she said, “and administer complex state and federal programs.”
The group, which works to find grants for Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Owen and Pendleton counties, saw a 7% drop in federal revenue in 2025.
But the funds the organization distributed in 2024 represented an 11% increase from the year before. The group is still almost 4% above where they were in 2023.
Looking at state and local funding, numbers have increased dramatically. In 2024, local funds to the NKADD were $1,829,743; in 2025, they were $2,388,888 – an almost 32% increase. State funding over the same time grew nearly 23%.
Looking at allocations from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the state’s largest county, Jefferson, with a population hovering just under 800,000, received almost $150 million. Fayette, with a population of about 330,000, received $62,768,488.
Combining Boone, Kenton and Campbell’s funds – with a total population of about 413,000 – the region received just over $76 million.
So while the process to bring that money in may be a little more complicated than if it were one single region, Northern Kentucky – however many counties and cities you consider it to be – is currently getting funding.
It’s a testament, some local leaders say, to how natural it is for people in the region to work together.
“Our ability to work around the fragmentation in NKY is a tribute to the cooperation we see every day through our elected officials as well as our business and community leaders,” said Karen Finan, president and CEO of the OneNKY Alliance. “Understanding the impact of a project or funding on the three-county area demands deliberate strategy, vision and long term cooperation.”
People and organizations across Northern Kentucky are constantly working to keep that cooperation alive.
Even so, many of the systems designed to bring in state funding weren’t designed for Northern Kentucky’s unique makeup, which can make getting grants (you guessed it) even more complicated.
The Kentucky Housing Corporation leads the state’s efforts to develop the continuum of care program, which applies for funding on behalf of agencies and nonprofits that serve those experiencing homelessness. That program is called the Kentucky Balance of State Continuum of Care.
Kentucky has 120 counties, and the state’s continuum of care advocates on behalf of 118 of those counties.
Jefferson and Fayette counties, however, advocate on behalf of themselves.
So there are three CoCs, so to speak, in Kentucky: Jefferson, Fayette and the Balance of State.
While the state housing corporation does not mention population directly when it comes to why some of those two counties are not included in the Balance of State CoC in Kentucky, according to Congress.gov, population plays at least a part.
About 70% of Community Development Block Grants allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are distributed to entitlement communities, which include Fayette and Jefferson counties in Kentucky. An entitlement community is defined as a city with a population of 50,000 or greater, a principal city, or an urban county with a population of 200,000 or greater. The remaining 30% is allocated to areas not defined as an entitlement community – and that includes Northern Kentucky.
There are many federal and state housing programs, and each operate in different and nuanced ways, but Continuum of Care allocations demonstrate how funding in Northern Kentucky – with a combined population of 413,005 – might look differently in the eyes of HUD or other federal or state programs than it does now: Three separate counties (Boone County’s population is just over 144,000, Kenton’s is almost 175,000, and Campbell’s is 94,000).
Because Northern Kentucky nonprofits historically receive less governmental funding than other parts of the state, said Horizon Community Foundation President and CEO Nancy Grayson, local philanthropy is not just important, but essential.
“Horizon exists to bring donors, businesses, and organizations together around a shared commitment to this region,” Grayson said. “By uniting resources and aligning giving with our community’s most pressing needs, we are creating a more coordinated, strategic approach to supporting Northern Kentucky nonprofits and strengthening the quality of life for the people who live and work here.”
As the Northern Kentucky Chamber’s Cooper put it:
“When Northern Kentucky works together, we can grow our common wealth.”