Working moms group

I started a working moms group in my town. I thought it would be a good way to get to know other working moms in town and share advice. So far we've met twice and have had 6-8 people each time. I have about 20 people on my list.

Most of the women work full time. The ones with part-time or flexible schedules negotiated them up front when they started their job, and said their companies were fine with it. Only one woman said that she negotiated a flexible arrangement after being on the job for a while, and she worked from home one day a week. The consensus was that it's best to raise this once you're fairly certain you've got the job, or after you've established yourself (meaning the worst time to ask is within the first two years or so after you start). One person told a story about how her boss didn't hire a woman everyone else loved because her request that she work from home made her seem less committed, but she thought he actually didn't like the applicant and was using her request as an excuse.

Most of the women have babies. So far I've only met two with school-age kids, and have pumped them for information about the public schools.

ALL of the women outsource house-cleaning. And we all agreed that it preserves our sanity that the two days a week we have to spend entirely with our kids aren't taken up by vacuuming and scrubbing toilets. (Besides, we're stimulating the economy.)

I'm hoping that as we continue meeting and people get to know each other, we can develop a real network where people feel comfortable reaching out to the group with questions. Meanwhile, I feel like it's my responsibility to keep it from fizzling out. Do any of you have a group like this, formally or informally? So far it's been free-form, with everyone discussing whatever topic comes up, but I'd love to hear ideas about how and whether to focus meetings or have certain activities or discussion topics.