Megan, In Her Words

Hello, my name is Megan Murphy Wolf, and I am asking for your support as a write-in candidate or Ward 4 Northampton School Committee.

I am excited to serve Northampton and Ward 4 as a school committee member. Public service is a big part of my life, and I am excited to give back to this city that has been my home for over fifteen years. My husband, Alan, grew up in Northampton, and we’ve been so lucky to also raise our three children in the Ward 4, South Street neighborhood.

I am originally from Portland, OR, where I inherited a passion for public policy from my parents and the activist culture around me. I like to say my first political experience was sign holding for Jesse Jackson’s presidential run in 1988, but I think at the age of nine, it’s more likely my folks were just trying to get me out of the house. I loved it, and I haven’t stopped since: advocating, door-knocking, marching, organizing, and supporting individuals and organizations committed to making a difference in their communities and across the country and world.  Joining with others to make positive change is the work I value above all else. 

Prior to living in Ward 4, Northampton, I lived in Washington, DC where I worked on Capitol Hill for Members of Congress as their Legislative Director, with a policy focus on appropriations, education, and agriculture. In Congress, I served as a driver of collaboration to bring the voices and needs of constituents to Washington and connect those priorities to legislative action.

Since moving to the valley, I have held a number of positions, including at Amherst College in the development office, and  then moving into the social justice philanthropy and with political movement building. From there, I was the Chief Operating Officer role at the Women’s Funding Network where I led the strategy to build greater economic support for women, particularly women of color, inside local communities and across philanthropy.

Most recently I have been consulting with a number philanthropic organizations. My work is focused on connecting philanthropic partners, and national education unions, with grassroots organizations fighting for public education within their communities.  I feel strongly about this work, and our efforts to protect trans student rights, prevent private school voucher programs, and keep the far right from making decisions about which books our kids can read, and using public dollars to promote religious education.  

My commitment to community also means that I volunteer a great deal of my time to causes that are important to me, over time including RAINN as a crisis counselor, Meals on Wheels, after school tutoring program, the Cancer Connection and the Survival Center to name a few. This commitment to civil service is a big part of my family life as well, my husband Alan works in the Mayor’s office as Chief of Staff, and we are raising our children to also take part in the community.

I am also active with the city and have been appointed to a number of ad hoc committees over my time in Northampton. I was extremely honored to receive a call from Mayor Narkewicz to serve on the 2012 Charter Review Committee. I served on this committee where we investigated the nuances of our city charter and for the first time in many years, we were able to get the charter passed in a city vote, the first time in over thirty years.

I have also served on the Ad Hoc Sewer and Stormwater Committee, and in 2014 I was asked to join a citizen committee called the Capital Improvements Committee to provide public input on city capital projects. This committee was created by Mayor Narkewicz for the purpose of getting citizen input on the yearly capital projects brought forward by city department heads. The intention was to gather more input from people across the city and includes a representative from the School Committee and the City Council. I was chosen because of my background in appropriations on Capitol Hill, where I routinely reviewed federal project requests and evaluated them in-line with established agency budgets. This committee meets yearly to also evaluate city projects and make a recommendation to the mayor, although all recommendations are non-binding, they do allow for outsider input on city priorities.

I have three wonderful children, two attend Northampton High School and one attends the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School. I understand what it means to bring up a child in this digital world, and the very active role that you must take as a parent to advocate for your child and support them through their learning and social development.  

This is such hard work! And this hard work deserves our mutual support, and recognition of each other’s humanity, no matter how tough times are (and they are plenty tough right now). We need to ask hard questions, we need to push for the best possible answers, and I am committed to doing both with respect for our shared commitment to all our educators and all our children. I love being a part of this community.  I love giving back to this city that has given so much to me and my family. 

It would be an honor to devote my time to represent Ward 4 residents on the School Committee.  I am ready to serve and I am excited for the positive change we can bring to our schools and the political climate in our city. 

In my spare time I try to learn new things, including a recent class with the Parks and Rec Department to learn Mah Jongg, which I am terrible at. I love taking my puppy out for walks, especially going downtown to see the beauty of our city. I am often helping with homework, trying my best to be supportive through the college application process, offering ignored advice to teenagers, pulling weeds out of my gardens, or cackling with friends over a cup of coffee.