Who knows more about what is going on in our community than ourselves?

This was the question asked in a meeting on Monday night that was led by Sen. Malika Sanders-Fortier, D-Selma as she spoke to future deputy senators that will assist her in gathering information about what is going on in the district.

Sanders-Fortier has a lot of ground to cover.

With eight counties in District 23, it is a smart idea to bring people from each county together to talk about how to make improvements.

However, the convenience that this would provide is not the main reason to do this.

As a first time senator, Sanders-Fortier can and will benefit from bringing constituents together to talk about what is needed in each county.

Sanders-Fortier has said many times that Dallas County and the rest of District 23 has all of the resources it needs.

“I think we’re at a place where we don’t need to wait for resources,” Sanders-Fortier said. “Once we finally take responsibility for our community, we’ll be able to organize them. We need to bring in resources, but we also have a lot of resources that we’re not using.”

Those that become deputy senators will have a whirlwind of a first year becoming involved in the processes and achieving the objectives that Sanders-Fortier has laid out.

Her plans include research and data collection, visioning and setting local community agendas, training the deputy senators on issues, rules and processes in the Senate, spending time in the Senate gallery, recruiting interns from local community and assignments in local government which includes attending school board meetings, county commission meetings, city council meetings and chamber of commerce meetings.

It will be hard work that will be shared with all involved.

It will, however, be worth the hard work when our communities in District 23 begin to thrive and grow.

These that become deputy senators along with Sanders-Fortier should be commended for the journey they are about to take.