Trailblazers. Innovators. Defenders. Nurturers.

Little Rock Family’s 2016 Pioneering Parents have earned all those titles, and more. In our third annual feature focusing on these remarkable people, you’ll meet some of the area’s most dedicated helpers of children—visionaries who reach out to others while raising their own kids.

And this year, they are all mothers. A mom with typically developing children helps make connections for thousands of special needs kids. A woman with no special interest in engineering takes her young son’s lead and learns to coach robotics. A lawyer, her own baby slung to her hip, fights for children’s welfare in the legal system. Another mother turns her passion for cycling into a way to feed the hungry, and teach her daughter the importance of activism. These inspiring central Arkansans are making a difference in lives every day.

They make great stories, and they’re all the greater because we aren’t bringing them to you. You, the readers of Little Rock Family, brought these remarkable, passionate individuals to us by nominating them as Pioneering Parents. Many more inspiring stories are out there, the narratives of moms and dads working to make life better for their own families and others. That devotion isn’t unnoticed. Your relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even your children wrote to us about inspiring people, the work they’ve done, and the work yet ahead. Although we could choose only four Pioneering Parents, Little Rock Family honors all those out there making a difference.

After getting acquainted with the work of 2016’s Pioneering Parents, please take a moment to nominate someone you know for next year’s feature.