Diane Jacobs
Diane has incorporated helping people into many areas of her life. She has been able to help people feel more confident professionally through her work at Dress for Success and feel better about themselves through her fashion shows.
What do you envision for Springfield?
"I love green! I love that the city is aware of clean energy, and greenspaces, and are planting all these trees. They realize we need to make our city green and clean in an effort to combat pollution, climate change, and environmental issues. We need Community Choice Energy to get 100% clean energy, install solar panels, windmills, turbines, anything to get the job done. It would be great if our city would do some creative things with the empty lots and abandoned buildings. Our city is beautiful and can be clean and green too."
What advice would you give to others who want to start getting involved?
"It's always good to work with your community and you have to be a leader. If I can inspire or urge community members to do something instead of sitting around dumbfounded, I'm gonna do that. My family is my why. Ask yourself what is your why? Then go work on that whatever that is. If I could wave a magic wand to get something going on for Springfield, I would do that. I'm here from the beginning to the end until we can actually get things done. I don't have a problem going door to door, which I have done. I don't have a problem showing up. You should show up for your family and community too in any way you can."
What issues concern you the most?
"I'm advocating so that we can get the clean energy we need in Springfield. That is a very high priority for me, and I want to do whatever I could do to help. If I can help make a positive impact in my community, I'm gonna do that. We had the painting of the murals over the summer, and I hoped it would spark people's interest to find out what we are actually doing. I want everyone to be on board and know that we are working to show people we can have clean energy. If we get clean energy that would help combat asthma and other respiratory illnesses. My entire family has Asthma."
How do you stay involved in advocating even when life is already full of challenges?
"The work that we're doing in the community is gonna be beneficial to the entire community. You know, our city. I believe people are gonna look at us as examples. Every time I drive off to Albany I see the windmill that's around Beckett or Lee Mass. And it's, it's so amazing! This is the one we used for our the clean energy campaign. I want to make our lives better, and will do so in any way that I can. If it's just my voice, it'll be my voice, I don't have a problem talking to you, the city council, or anyone else. I don't have a problem with working with people that have high level positions. But, we need more community voices. The more voices involved in the processes, the more effective we will be."