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Connections



I have reached the stage of Maryland summer where I am just plain angry about the heat. I try not to take it personally, but…it does feel like a personal attack. 

Due to the extreme heat over the weekend Howard County Government shared the locations of local cooling centers on social media.


This made me wonder how many are accessible by public transit. All, I hope. But I have some research in my future.

No, I most likely would not need to use public transit to get to a cooling center. I still care about making sure that others in our community have access to cool places during dangerously hot weather. Not everyone has a car. 

I continue to be appalled by locals who care about county initiatives only if they themselves will benefit, which is probably why I make it a point to examine ways that we as a community should keep working to remove obstacles and open doors for those around us.

Ahem. Sermon over.

Howard County Government has put together a Food Connection Map which does include transit information. Good for them.

Howard County Food Connection Map, Local Health Improvement Coalition 

It’s an interactive map and you can tell just by looking at it that a lot of work went into it. Your tax dollars at work, as they say. I’m thrilled. I’d love to know how the county is connecting this resource with people who need the information. (Ooh, more research ahead.)

I have a great deal of leisure time and I spend several hours every day looking for local stories online for the blog. So I know about cooling centers and the summer food resources and the Food Connection Map. I have home internet, a smart phone, an iPad. 

How do people who truly need these resources get connected with this information?

The first thing that comes to mind is the library. Which is also a cooling center. And a home base for some of the summer food programs. 

Yes, our libraries are places to borrow books, music, movies (and more) but they also provide computers and internet and opportunities to connect with very important information. 



The Howard County Department of Community Resources and Services is promoting an upcoming podcast interview with Library president and CEO, Tonya Aikens. 

The library isn't what it used to be. And that's a good thing!

"We have to engage, listen and respond," says Tonya Aikens, the president & CEO, @hocolibrary when talking about leading one the county's greatest resources.

Hear more in her conversation with host and DCRS Director Jackie Scott about how she encourages programming alongside community, in our July podcast #hococommunitychat, which drops on the first.

For back episodes, visit htts://bit.ly/ HoCoCommunityChatPodcast .

It sounds like a cool listen for one of those hot Maryland days ahead.


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