From creating parent groups in Madison schools to fighting for a local grocery store, the Northside Planning Council is at  the forefront of creating a tightly-knit community on Madison's north side.
      The large community, which is rich in diversity both ethnically and socio-economically, has faced its fair share of challenges in the past. The   Northside Planning Council, a grass-roots coalition consisting of  neighborhood associations and community organizations, has played a major  role in combating these challenges and creating a voice for the diverse  needs and wants of north side residents.
      As always, it is the people  behind such organizations that make all the difference. One of these people is Abha Thakkar.
      As associate facilitator of the Northside Planning Council and managing editor of the Northside News, Thakkar is a familiar  face to north side residents. Since 2001, Thakkar has been working at the council with the goal of improving the quality of life on Madison's north side by growing citizen leaders and building community.
      Thakkar  will be awarded the 2006 Visionary Award at the Social Justice Center's annual award ceremony and birthday celebration on May 4 at  Olbrich Botanical Gardens for her efforts. She is quick to point out,  however, that her "vision&"  would not be successful without the      residents who help define that vision.
      "I couldn't have done any of this without this community," Thakkar said. ";The community has the vision. This is a victory for them too."
      Despite  challenges with crime, changing demographics, and urban growth, the north  side community has proven resilient and dedicated. They have fought and won a long-drawn out battle to place a new grocery store in the former  Kohl's building, which has been vacant since 2003. They have created  and grown a thriving community garden where families spend their days tending to flowers and vegetables. They have developed a strong and united  voice to address issues pertaining to education and local government. The Northside Planning Council has been uniquely instrumental in organizing and  supporting all of these and many more movements.
      "It's about  people coming together," Thakkar said.
      Although she gives most of the credit to north side residents, Thakkar has been helping to lead the way. Community organizing seems a natural fit for the spirited and dedicated young woman.
      Born in India to what she describes as a "family of political revolutionaries and social reformers," Thakkar and her family immigrated to Waukesha, WI when she was just two years old. Her life is uniquely colored with both the Indian culture that defined her parents and the new American way of life that they faced when they moved here.
      Thakkar's father, an engineer, and her mother,  wanted to give their children opportunities they didn't feel were available in India. Like many new immigrants, they constantly battled the tension between their cultural ties to India and the social standards of a  new culture. Thakkar still feels that tension, but credits her parents for  allowing her to grow and thrive in their new environment.
      "I give my parents a lot of credit for having the courage to set us free in a  culture that was fairly new to them," Thakkar said. "They  wanted me to have opportunities that girls in India didn't  have."
      Thakkar is inspired by her parents' strong work  ethic and love of learning; her grandparents' social justice legacy  and sense of duty; [and] the memory of the generations of women before her  who did not have her opportunities.
      Thakkar moved from Waukesha to  attend the University of Madison-Wisconsin where she graduated in 1998 with  an honor's degree in political science, international relations,  Global Cultures, and Integrated Liberal Studies. After travel-writing in  Fiji for a while in 1999, she returned to UW-Madison to pursue a teaching  degree. She soon discovered that she was more interested in what she calls systemic educational reform.
      Knowing that teaching wasn';t for her,  Thakkar wasn';t sure what career path would fit her unique abilities and passions until she received a job description for a position at the  Northside Planning Council. She knew then that community organizing was a  natural fit for her.
      "Every single thing in that job description was  what I wanted to do," she said.
       In short, what she does at the Northside Planning Council includes grass-roots organizing, publishing a community newspaper, training citizen leaders, and building sustainable social change organizations. She works to develop relationships with north side residents to identify potential leaders within the community while providing them with support and training. She helps to develop and/or  revitalize community organizations by providing technical support and training.
      Thakkar has also focused a lot of her energy at the Northside Planning Council on education and equity issues and has been instrumental      in pioneering the organization of numerous parent groups from area schools  to create the Northside PTO/A Coalition. Last year, the coalition expanded  to become the East Attendance Area PTO Coalition. When it started it just  included the elementary schools that feed into Sherman and Black Hawk  Middle Schools. Now it is open to all schools that feed into East High  School. Thakkar continues to staff the group which is focused on closing  the achievement gap so all students receive a quality education; creating  transparency in the budget process; and increasing public input in the  decision-making that affects area schools.
      Day-to-day, Thakkar's  duties at the North side Planning Council vary greatly. Community  organizers like Thakkar wear numerous hats as they set out on their task to  improve the quality of life for the residents they serve. While she gives much of the credit (deservingly so) to the diverse residents of the north side, Thakkar plays a large role in fostering and growing the many  organizations that make the north side Madison's hidden treasure of a community.
Abha Thakkar: A visionary for social justice
by Laura Salinger
Abha Thakkar
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