getting involved with MAC

recently, i've become involved with a group that advocates for children and families in mansfield (MAC), the town i live in. our local librarian invited me to one of their meetings, and now i've become a member of the group and am loving it. the group recently got a nice grant for coming up with a plan that would outline how we can better support the health and well-being of families with young children in our area.

i'm really excited about being part of this! in the past few years, especially since i had children, i've become acutely aware of the importance community plays in our lives. raising children in isolation can be very difficult, and puts a huge strain on a family. very few of us are lucky enough to have family nearby that can help support us especially in those first few years when the kids are young and there are so many demands on the parents. so the role of the community is key.

what i'm really excited about with this group is that they seem really open to different voices, diffrent experiences, different points of views. they also plan to address a variety of issues, such as health, education, transportation, housing, etc, and link them all together into something viable for the community. i see a lot of potential, like bike-paths, for instance. i think that if we had more bikepaths linking key points in our area, such as the library, general store, community center, etc, it would make it easier for people to be out and about, connecting with each other and having fun without using their cars, and without risking their lives riding on the road, as is currently the case. i'm also really excited about the prospect of getting home-schoolers and public schools more involved with each other, using each other's resources, being aware of each other. mostly though, i'm excited about the opportunity of making a difference on a local level, in the lives of people i know, where i can see and evaluate the results.

i already commited myself quite a bit to this group, it's the biggest commitment i've made outside of my family since i quit work at pratt. but ed's being really supportive, he can see that this is close to my heart, and he also believes that the project has a lot of potential.
so we'll see how it goes...