Written by Executive Director Claire Louge
Let me start with an understatement: There’s a lot going on right now.
When things feel like a lot, I tend to look for truths that ground me. In case it’s all feeling like a lot to you too, I’d like to offer what’s helped keep me resolved:
1. Working to improve the world for children and families is one the most valuable things a person can do.
In whatever way you’re working for child and family wellbeing, it’s valuable. Especially now. Standing up for what children need, and in support of the caregivers who raise them, is the best gift to our collective future.
2. In however way you support child wellbeing, what makes you good at it is also what makes it hard. Doing this work is not for the faint of heart. It requires a lot of heart. The more you care, the harder it can be. And there’s a lot to care about right now.
3. It can be hard to know what to do when there’s too much to be done. It’s a lot and you can’t do it all. Prioritizing is necessary. Do what you can, when you can, with what you have. That is what we need in this moment. Keep on showing up in the ways you can. There’s no perfect way to get through uncertainty, and life is uncertain.
4. Children are more important than politics. Caring about children transcends the exhausting machinations of political parties. We can unify to prioritize children.
5. Be a community member. Don’t be just be a professional. Professionals don’t heal people; people heal people. Be a person in a community first, and a professional second. Being in community is how we get through things. To have a village, we need to be the village.
Who you are is what we need. This moment calls for you.