Ann M. Walsh, a former head of an education nonprofit who worked for City Councillor At-Large John Connolly, on Thursday became the latest candidate to join the field of District 3 candidates running to succeed outgoing Councillor Frank Baker.

Walsh, a 51-year-old Lower Mills resident, first worked as Connolly’s policy director and then his chief of staff.

After Connolly’s unsuccessful run for mayor in 2013, she and Connolly co-founded an education nonprofit, 1647, focused on boosting family engagement. The nonprofit dissolved in February, after sharing its curriculum with some of its partners, such as Lesley University.

“For everything that people say about government and politics, I really liked when I worked in a Council office,” Walsh told the Reporter. “I like helping people. I think government’s role should be helping people, to make things work better. So I really enjoyed the job and I understand what the job is.”

She said a running joke in her household is that she continues to handle constituent services there and for neighbors. “I’ve had to do it for myself,” Walsh said. “I’m already doing constituent services through my own network and I’d like to do it in a broader, more universally accessible way.”

The mother of a high school student and a college student, Walsh said, “I know what it’s like to raise kids in the city, and navigate systems as an end user. I worked in City Hall, but for the most part I’m the end user of the systems. I am looking at it from the perspective of a person on the outside who has had to navigate this.”

Known for keeping a busy schedule, Walsh plans to gather voter signatures at the youth softball game she’s helping coach on Thursday night at Town Field in Fields Corner. She also plans to work with supporters to gather signatures along the Dorchester Day parade route on Sunday.

District-level candidates have until June 23 to get their voter signatures to the city's elections department.

Along with pulling voter signature papers at City Hall, Walsh also set up the customary fundraising account with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF).

Virginia Benzan, director of racial justice advocacy at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, is serving as her campaign chair. Denise Richard, a former social worker and co-founder of the Martin Richard Foundation, is listed as the campaign’s treasurer.

Since Baker said in April that he isn't running for another two year term, the field has steadily grown, standing at seven earlier this week. Walsh makes it eight.

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