This featured guest piece is an excerpt of our June 2025 newsletter.

Dear MCSW Community:

Happy June! As a State Commissioner who hails from Freetown, I was first appointed by the Speaker of the House in 2017. I am now at the end of my third term. Prior to that, I served three terms on the very first Bristol County Commission on the Status of Women, sworn in officially in 2009.

This month, the MCSW is announcing more than 125 Commonwealth Heroines as a part of our Class of 2025. As a former Heroine myself, it has been a great honor for me to serve with the MCSW for so many wonderful years, where these issues are front and center among commissioners’ priorities. Women and girls have long been a top priority for me personally. Whether as a workforce development professional, a local official, or working for the state, I see that women and girls continue to face many challenges to achieve their full potential.

By day, I am the Director of Public Engagement for the MBTA’s South Coast Rail project. I am proud to say that after so many years of engineering, planning, permitting, building and cajoling, the new Fall River/New Bedford Line launched at the end of March this year. Through this work, and other career paths along the way, I chose transportation and education as two key components of economic independence for women.

When you educate a girl, you change a life and the trajectory of that life. When you provide the transit options that allow women and girls to get where they need to be, the benefits are untold. When both of these opportunities are in place, you elevate a community and foster growth, prosperity, and improved quality of life.

Education and transportation require time and investment.

On the education front, it is imperative that the curricula offered meet the needs of the student, and those needs are not static; rather, they are quite dynamic and demand continuous scrutiny and modification. As for transportation, we must acknowledge that there is no more real estate in Massachusetts for additional superhighways, so our rail and bus service must be robust and flexible.

There is always more to do to enhance educational opportunities and pipelines as well as improve transportation across the state. But more than anything, these essential needs require consistent advocacy and persistence. I believe that I have demonstrated both, but the effort must continue, and all of us here at the MCSW will be there every step of the way. It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve alongside all of you.

Congratulations and thank you for a great year,
Jean Fox
MCSW State Commissioner

Jean Fox is the Director of Outreach for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s South Coast Rail project. Fox was appointed to the Commission by MA Speaker of the House, Robert DeLeo, in 2017. Heading up the public engagement and outreach effort for a major commuter rail expansion project, Fox led the South Coast Rail project through MassDOT’s environmental review and permitting process, ushering the project to construction. Jean is active in her hometown of Freetown as well as the South Coast, most recently spearheading the effort to launch and implement the Freetown Regional Food Pantry. A former Freetown Selectman, Jean has participated on numerous educational boards and committees in the South Coast. She served as Chair of the Freetown-Lakeville Regional School Committee and Secretary of the Global Learning Charter Public School Board of Trustees. Fox has been active in bringing much-needed attention to the transportation needs of the region, working on a Transit Development Plan in New Bedford as well as advocating for reliable transportation for women and students to get to and from work, jobs, education, healthcare, and childcare. Fox was named a Woman of Distinction by the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts in 2013 and received the Lifelong Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees in 2010.

June 2025 Regional Spotlight

Every month this year, we’re proudly spotlighting the work of our 11 regional commissions. This month, we uplift the Upper Middlesex Commission on the Status of Women (UMCSW), whose mission is to provide a permanent, effective voice for women and girls in their region.