The Ohio Organizing Collaborative

The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) is a grassroots, people-centered organization dedicated to building transformative power among everyday Ohioans to achieve statewide social, racial, and economic justice.

Established in 2007, OOC unites community organizing groups, student associations, faith organizations, labor unions, and policy institutes across Ohio.

Mission and Vision

OOC's mission is to organize everyday Ohioans by building transformative power organizations for racial, social, and economic justice.

Their vision is to create a democratic, multi-racial populist governing coalition in Ohio.

Key Strategies

OOC employs three key strategies to achieve its mission:

• Grassroots Community Organizing for Power: Leading impactful local and statewide issue campaigns and leadership development programs through inclusive leadership teams.
• Large-Scale Civic Engagement: Building independent political power by expanding the electorate and engaging low to no-propensity voters, especially young voters and voters of color, in the civic process.
• Narrative Change and Strategic Communications: Constructing strategic public communications campaigns with a Race-Class Narrative framework to advance their worldview, values, and issues, amplifying their leaders in the public arena.

Focus Areas

OOC's priorities include economic justice, criminal justice reform, and structural democracy reform.

• Economic Justice: Advocating for raising wages, healthcare access, income support, safety nets, and affordable quality education from pre-K through college.
• Criminal Justice Reform: Pursuing bail reform, police and prosecutor accountability, community reinvestment, and drug policy reform.
• Structural Democracy Reform: Expanding voting rights to ensure fair representation.

Member Organizations

OOC comprises 18 member organizations, including the Ohio Student Association, SEIU Local 1, Iron Workers, Ohio Prophetic Voices, and Northeast Ohio Alliance For Hope.

Leadership and Staff

The leadership team includes Executive Director Molly Shack and Strategic Advisor Prentiss Haney.

Organizing Directors such as Tami Lunan and Rachael Collyer lead various initiatives, while the communications team is headed by Communications Director Bria Bennett.

Locations

OOC operates in multiple cities and counties across Ohio, including Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Warren.

Additionally, it has operations in St Petersburg, FL, USA.

Contact Information

For more information or to get involved, you can call 330-743-1196 or email [email protected].

Follow them on social media to stay updated on their work and initiatives.

Through its comprehensive approach, The Ohio Organizing Collaborative continues to empower communities, advocate for justice, and drive systemic change across the state.