Dr. Janine Darby, a Board-Certified Obesity and Family Physician and small business owner, is a wife of 25 years to a loving, supportive husband, Chád, and mother to four incredible children (Chadé, Ty, Dion, Avani). She has lived in Lower Providence Township for 20 years. In 2000, she moved from the Washington, D.C. area to attend medical school at Temple University School of Medicine. Dr. Darby serves her community by providing quality healthcare, volunteering, and providing monetary donations. She prides herself as an open-minded leader who is an active listener, a problem solver, and a collaborator. Dr. Darby spends her leisure time (pre-pandemic) with her husband and children traveling, frequenting art museums, attending shows at the theater, painting, drawing, and driving fast cars.
In August 2020, Dr. Darby and her daughter, Chadé, established the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force. To meet the organization’s vision to live in a community that accepts, respects, and encourages the value, dignity, and capabilities of all individuals, the DEI Task Force promotes diversity through support and development of equity and inclusion practices that will eliminate discrimination and inequity in the Methacton schools and community.
The DEI Task Force, which meets biweekly, hosts ongoing Facebook programs featuring DEI leaders, live concerts, trivia contests, and collects recipe submissions celebrating various cultures. As a result of their efforts, Dr. Darby and her family were recognized as “Citizens of the Year” by the Lower Providence Township. The task force helped implement a DEI Office in the school district, held monthly roundtable discussions with the Lower Providence Police Department, and have raised more than $4,000 to help pay for scholarships and other DEI programming and resources.
Dr. Darby never imagined herself running for public office. After viewing the tragic racial events of last summer, seeing how the current systems and policies are failing marginalized populations, she realized she had to do more than sit aside and watch. Dr. Darby wants to fix her community problems – race relations, public safety, local tax issues, and much more. She wants to be a part of the solution. Dr. Darby hopes to work collaboratively with the citizens of Lower Providence Township to do better and be better with more community engagement and educational opportunities.
With support from local Pennsylvania state representatives and her community, Dr. Darby is outlining her position on various issues, including community engagement and unification, street safety requirements, and township beautification, among others. Dr. Darby’s civic leadership and personal experience with the local public school district that educated her four children make her an ideal candidate for this six-year position.