Together, we’ve made significant progress over the years. Our schools are number one in the country. We’ve driven down violent crime to its lowest level in over 30 years and we’ve decreased infant mortality deaths 16.3 percent since 2007. All of these achievements relate to our 15 strategic goals.
But often when sharing these statistics, it’s easy to lose sight of what they actually mean.
Crime is not the weather. It does not go up and down by itself. It is driven down by the hard work of our law enforcement and through effective policies. Our schools aren’t number one because of an arbitrary set of factors. The homicide rate going down is a great statistic but what it really means is that more moms don’t have to stand over a child’s casket.
We set these goals because the things that get measured are the things that get done. And the reason they get done is because of people. There are thousands of people working on these goals and millions more who are affected by them.
As we close the year and reflect on the progress we’ve made together, we wanted to share the stories of the people behind the policies. We’ll start with a touching story about a young woman who finally got the help she needed after years of substance abuse.
GDU Goal: Expand Access to Substance Abuse Services by 25 percent by the end of 2012.
“I am Worthy”
My name is Audralina and I’ve been a resident of Montgomery County for about thirty ears. When I was fourteen years old, a light switch flicked on and my life changed.
My mind began to move faster and colors looked brighter than ever before. Everything in my life was amplified to a degree that I was experiencing both moments of clarity and pure chaos. The once introverted child was now living on the edge and struggling to make sense of it all.
When I entered middle school I began to act out. My parents got help for me but at that time the psychiatrist classified me as being rebellious (I was later diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.) As time went on my situation became worse and shortly after being assessed by the doctor, I tried to commit suicide. My parents found me.
When I was in my last year of high school I decided to drop out and live on the streets with my boyfriend. My life was out of control and I could not hear anyone. Soon after, I became pregnant with my son. His father and I both decided to get jobs and life seemed to be going fine until one day something changed – his father became physically abusive. He had always been abusive but I overlooked it because I had a problem with loving myself. I thought that he was the only one that would love me. At 19, we broke up.
I returned back home to my family who supported me and my son. Then I got a job where I was introduced to cocaine. It became my best friend. I kept it a secret for a while because it seemed fun but the fun periods became shorter and the painful times became longer. I used for over twenty years and was disconnected from my family for most of that time. I was running from myself the whole time; I was afraid of who I would find once I began to look inside of myself.
One day, I decided to get help.
Today I am different because I participate in my wellness program. I know how to ask for help, and I’m now helping others with addiction.
I am not existing today – I am living, and life has offered many solutions.
My family has been supporting me since I began this journey when I was a teenager. I have been blessed along the way to have an extended support network.
The women’s outpatient program that I still attend has been a steady support system for me. I will never forget all of the programs that I attended and utilized in Montgomery County that always let me come back and never gave up on me.
I recently celebrated two years of recovery and it is truly a blessing and I know that I did not do it alone. Loving myself was something that I thought I was not worthy of, but now I know that I am worthy.
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Just got an email invite to the "Holiday Open House" at the Government House. To be admitted one must posses and show a PHOTO ID! He fights against the need for a photo ID to vote but DEMANDS one to party with him. Ignorance knows no bounds with this man.
If he knew your name and address--beyond being just another Joe--he probably wouldn't have invited you. Party hearty.
I view gambling as a vice that has nothing at all to do with who holds political office. Such was the case with street numbers and casting lots at the foot of the Cross.
"Ignorance knows no bounds with this man." I don't think you know what the word "ignorance" means. "Irony", maybe. Though, again, there's an obvious difference between entering the Governor's home and voting.
But don't truck out silly warrants and opinions as if they have any universal validity. I hope to call you on them every time in the name of civil, intelligent discourse.
jag 2:18 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 "I don't think you know what the word "ignorance" means." I think jag thinks he is the only person on the planet who knows anything. Always feeling superior to others. Always telling others what they "don't know". I hope your feelings of superiority and supremacy over others helps you in your weekly sessions with your shrink. It sure make you look like an idiot here. Now come in and tell me what else you don't know that I don't know.
Nothing more than an unsupportable opinion. To blame policies of 30 years ago for today's financial issues when they were non existent during the past decade is reaching into the dark for blame and pulling out nothing but words.
Man, you need to turn off Rachel Madcow for a while. News flash: Al Gore Lost multiple recounts even when the Democrats cherry picked heavily Democratic counties to recount. There are plenty of flaws with our election system, but one are as bad as not requiring a person to prove their identity with an ID.
Have you heard of Wendy Rosen? Wendy Rosen, who was going to run against Harris, voted in both Florida and in Maryland in two elections. The Democrcats forced her out of the race. I guess they figured that she would be a distraction in any debate around voter ID laws. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-09-14/news/bs-md-wendy-rosen-withdraws-20120910_1_general-election-voter-fraud-vote-on-local-issues
He lost every single recount even when they were biased in his favor and even though the people counting the votes in those heavily democratic counties were manipulating the ballots to invalidate votes for Bush. Even after all of that he still lost. Thankfully, SCOTUS put an end to the charade. There were plenty of irregularities this year, but I'm not going to pretend that Obama stole the election. He ran a better campaign and got out the vote. End of story.
If what happened in Florida had happened in a Middle Eastern country, what would all of these Real Mercans say? Son of the former President, who was the former head of the Secret Police, was embroiled in a close election in the state where his brother was Governor. The results were delayed by several weeks and ultimately decided in the Supreme Court, where two justices sat who had been appointed by the candidate's aforementioned father. Not surprisingly, he won.
MEDIA RECOUNT: BUSH WON THE 2000 ELECTION April 3, 2001 "More than three months after Democrat Al Gore conceded the hotly contested 2000 election, an independent hand recount of Florida's ballots released today says he would have lost anyway, even if officials would have allowed the hand count he requested. In the first full study of Florida's ballots since the election ended, The Miami Herald and USA Today reported George W. Bush would have widened his 537-vote victory to a 1,665-vote margin if the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court would have been allowed to continue, using standards that would have allowed even faintly dimpled "undervotes" -- ballots the voter has noticeably indented but had not punched all the way through -- to be counted."
http://www.randomlengthsnews.com/blogs/Notebook/2012/10/the-wolf-that-cried-wolf/
1. While my example was someone who voted in Maryland and Florida, last I checked a few of our states share a common border. People don't need to fly anywhere to do this. 2.its a question of having faith in the system. Several precincts in Philly went 100% for Obama. Think about that. Not one republican vote? Not even a single accidental vote? While there is no proof that there was fraud in tis cases, the lack of any positive ID allows questions of legitimacy to fester. You cant cash a check without ID. I don't think this is asking too much. BTW Frank/FIFA (whichever you are today) ACORN may be defunct in name, but the organization lives on. I don't think they stole the election, but they have done a lot of really questionable things.
For decades each NEW president had promised to release the secret files on UFOs. Never happened though. They all vowed to reduce the size of the White House Office building, which grows larger and leaks more secrets every time someone mentions they want to do this. Good statements PcTech...