I appreciate #mastodharma because contrary to what people in culturally diverse communities may think, no, not everyone can easily access a Buddhist teacher or temple.

I find community-led discussions a great way for someone to learn about things and see if it's something they truly wish to pursue in a more structured, guided way. If they even find enough to resonate with TO seek out a teacher to guide them to realization.

Where I am, we are extremely privileged to have the highest concentration of temples in Texas (11 in Houston, IIRC, not even accounting for the whole Houston metro area) across several schools of Buddhism... but of the remaining ~63, they are almost all entirely in major metropolitan areas. You're not gonna find that many in the western half of the state, for example. Out there you're lucky if you can find a Hindu temple, let alone Buddhist.