Groups looking at ways of improving county’s future
The Franklin County Children’s Policy Council has partnered with Franklin County Community Education, the YES Foundation of Franklin County and the Franklin County Extension Office to create six different committees of 12 members each who will meet quarterly to actively pursue ways to improve the quality of life for children in Franklin County.
The council and committees met on Thursday and Franklin County District Court Judge Paula McDowell, who serves as chair of the Children’s Policy Council, outlined the goals she hoped to see accomplished through the new partnership.
“I have always been a very good talker and the Children’s Policy Council has been a good way to share ideas about the different ways we can help the children of this county,” McDowell said. “But we can’t just talk anymore. We’ve got to start putting these ideas into motion and making things happen. That’s the purpose of this partnership – to put pressure on one another to not just talk about ideas. We’ve got to put these ideas into action.”
McDowell went on to stress the importance of investing in the children in the community and said that this applied to children from newborns all the way to age 19.
“Children are the future,” McDowell said. “If we want to help Franklin County grow, we’re got to start from the ground and work our way up, starting with the children. We need to prepare them through education, through the work force and through new industry, and it all starts with the people here on these committees.”
Junior Ruiz, Vice-President of the YES Foundation of Franklin County, also spoke to the group about the reason he chose to live in this area and why he believes the new partnership is important.
“I moved here eight years ago with my family from Miami,” Ruiz said. “I had looked this place up and Franklin County looked really good on paper. It just shined.
“Then when I visited here, I found that the people were so friendly and nice, the schools were great and I was impressed. This community really was what I saw on paper.
“But if we want to continue to have a great community, we have to keep investing in it and I believe the strong participation in this meeting shows that we are willing to do that.”
After a short presentation of the goals to keep children safe, keep children out of trouble and to make sure families are strong and stable, members broke off into their respective committees to discuss ways to actively carry out these goals.
“We are here to be the movers and shakers in this community and that’s exactly what we’ve got to do,” Franklin County Community Education Director Dr. Susan Hargett said.
The next meeting of the group as a whole will be in April after each committee has had time to act on the ideas they came up with on Thursday.
