LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rev. Kevin Cosby stands at 28th and Broadway overlooking the new Norton West Louisville Hospital.
“Love is a four-letter word. This is how you spell love – C-A-S-H. when west Louisville is a place to love through investment, then west Louisville will become a place to live,” he said.
It is the reason why the hospital is more than a building to him and others. Quality healthcare has been lacking in the west end for decades.
Cosby is one of the state’s top Black leaders. He is the president of the re-energized Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville.
He’s also the longtime leader of one of Kentucky's largest black churches, St. Stephen Baptist Church.
To his core, the 66-year-old is one thing.
“I have been in the pastorate for 45 years. I have been in west Louisville by choice – all my life and this is the first time I’ve seen any major investment in west Louisville maybe since 1968,” Cosby explained. “Now thing about where other communities would be if they had not had any investments since Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Nixon pre-Watergate.”
The Norton and Goodwill Opportunity Campus sites together remind Cosby of another day at 28th and Broadway.
“I'm going to tell you, when I was a kid, and we did Christmas shopping. There were enough stores on 28th Street that our parents would give us money to purchase Christmas presents and we could literally go on 28th Street to purchase everything we needed,” Cosby said.
In a recent sermon, Dr. Cosby said, “God will give you the grace and the power to get you though it and you will get through it. You will get through it.”
WHAS11 News asked him is west Louisville starting to get through it? He paused.
“Important first steps. Important first steps, I think for West Louisville, this is a sign of hope.”
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