Projects
We support progressive, non-partisan leaders to work together, learn together, and play together so that we can win justice and equity for every Ohioan.
Work Together
Obtaining a fair, accurate and complete count of all Ohioans will be critical for getting resources for important programs, and a fair amount of representation in redistricting. We are working with partners around the state to prepare for the 2020 Census.
Contributors:

Outreach Manager
Charlie Stewart
Charlie Stewart is the Outreach Manager for Ohio Voice. They focus on community and relationship building, project management, outreach, communications and capacity and needs analysis for civic engagement programs.
Charlie was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Their background includes volunteer coordination and management, grassroots organizing, campaign strategic planning and analysis, event planning and fundraising. They graduated with a B.A studying political science, Spanish, and queer studies at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In their spare time, they are a guardian ad litem for Casa of Franklin County and organize a social justice group helping queer and trans people of color fight state sanctioned violence.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/their

Executive Director
Gavin Devore Leonard
Gavin DeVore Leonard is the Executive Director for Ohio Voice, responsible for fundraising and finance, strategic planning, and more.
His background includes serving as State Director of One Ohio Now (our budget and tax policy coalition) from 2011-17, State Director of Ohio’s Center for Progressive Leadership from ’08-’11, co-founder and Executive Director of Elementz (a hip hop-based youth arts center in Cincinnati) from ’05-’08, and years working for affordable housing organizations, canvassing on environmental issues, and plenty of volunteer work – often on racial justice and police accountability. He didn’t finish New York University because he was so excited to get to work :).
Gavin lives in Yellow Springs with his wife and two kids and loves rivers, basketball, Tetris, hip hop, flavorful food, and reading.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his
Progressive organizations are stronger when we stand together. Throughout 2019 we conducted over 50 interviews with progressive organizations to to ask them what we all need in order to achieve more together, so that we can write up the Collective Impact Plan for 2020.
Through 2020 we will host Collective Impact meetings to discuss how to implement the Collective Impact Plan report, share landscape updates, and disseminate best practices for running program in 2020.
Contributors:

Training & Fellowship Manager
Alwiyah Shariff
Alwiyah Shariff is the Training & Fellowship Manager at Ohio Voice. In 2007, as a high-schooler, she started her organizing career on a campaign to raise the minimum wage and learned how to advocate for young people in the system. Since then, she has worked in multiple sectors of the social justice movement including protest organizing, lobbying, union organizing and field organizing – registering over 45,000 young people in Ohio to vote as Ohio Student Association’s Field Director. She’s also been a trainer for multiple training institutions including the Midwest Academy, Momentum and WildFire. She is coming to us from her role as the National Membership Coordinator with the Working Families Party and is eager to work (strictly) in Ohio at such a critical time in our country. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her family and loves to travel back home to East Africa.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:she/her/hers

Executive Director
Gavin Devore Leonard
Gavin DeVore Leonard is the Executive Director for Ohio Voice, responsible for fundraising and finance, strategic planning, and more.
His background includes serving as State Director of One Ohio Now (our budget and tax policy coalition) from 2011-17, State Director of Ohio’s Center for Progressive Leadership from ’08-’11, co-founder and Executive Director of Elementz (a hip hop-based youth arts center in Cincinnati) from ’05-’08, and years working for affordable housing organizations, canvassing on environmental issues, and plenty of volunteer work – often on racial justice and police accountability. He didn’t finish New York University because he was so excited to get to work :).
Gavin lives in Yellow Springs with his wife and two kids and loves rivers, basketball, Tetris, hip hop, flavorful food, and reading.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Deputy Director
James Hayes
James is Ohio Voice’s Deputy Director, and works in close partnership with the Executive Director to set and meet organizational goals and budgets, develop strong relationships with partners and other stakeholders, and more.
In 2012, James co-founded the Ohio Student Association (OSA) where he served as Co-Director for four years. In 2015, James was named to the Root 100 as one of the one hundred most influential Black leaders in the country.
Most recently, James worked as Training Director for the Ayni Institute where he designed and led training programs on organizing and movement building for leaders from across the nation and across different movements.
James was born and raised in Columbus, OH where he currently lives with his wife Amelia and dog Ella. He graduated from the Ohio State University in 2012 with a degree in political science and a minor in history.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his
We provide organizations with quality data support to help them become more efficient and effective.
In addition to traditional VAN support, Ohio Voice will provide devices, lists, and scripts to organizations, allowing them to iterate from a basic starting point and eliminating much of the preliminary work
Contributors:

Data & Digital Director
Adam Parsons
Adam Parsons is the Data & Digital Director for Ohio Voice, and assists partners with VAN (Voter Activation Network) administration, campaign planning and analysis, and digital outreach tools and methods.
His background includes grassroots campaign infrastructure, volunteer management, and social media planning and advertising. He has an M.A. in modern U.S. history from Syracuse University and received his undergraduate degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Outreach Manager
Charlie Stewart
Charlie Stewart is the Outreach Manager for Ohio Voice. They focus on community and relationship building, project management, outreach, communications and capacity and needs analysis for civic engagement programs.
Charlie was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Their background includes volunteer coordination and management, grassroots organizing, campaign strategic planning and analysis, event planning and fundraising. They graduated with a B.A studying political science, Spanish, and queer studies at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In their spare time, they are a guardian ad litem for Casa of Franklin County and organize a social justice group helping queer and trans people of color fight state sanctioned violence.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/their
Too few organizations know how to maximize their reach and impact through digital organizing.
We provide digital capacity training and support to organizations in our ecosystem so they will be better equipped to tell authentic stories on the issues they care about.
Contributors:

Digital Engagement Manager
Katie LeBlanc
Katie LeBlanc is the Digital Engagement Manager at Ohio Voice, working with partners on scaling up and out their digital footprint, supporting on compelling story and content creation, streamlining external outreach, and training on best practices and tools for sustained development and organizational, digital growth. Her background includes strategic campaign planning, organizing rural communities and students throughout the Midwest and Southeast, operating small and mid-sized ecologically regenerative farms, and working with youth, communities of color, and farmers in expanding their social media presence, branding, and harnessing the power of authentic storytelling. She received her undergraduate degree from Murray State University in 2012, followed by a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Montana in 2015, specializing in organizational digital presence.
Katie lives in Columbus, Ohio where she maintains her flower and vegetable gardens, hosting community dinners, and building power with fellow indigenous people throughout Ohio.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:she/her/hers
Our Fair Courts work serves to educate the public about the role of judges and courts in order to increase participation rates in judicial elections, improve the quality and diversity of judges selected for the bench, and engage more activists to win needed reforms.
Contributors:

Election Administration Director
Camille Wimbish, Esq.
Camille Wimbish is the Election Administration Director for Ohio Voice. She organizes statewide election protection efforts and coordinates the Ohio Fair Elections Network (OFEN), which advocates for modern election reforms and improved voter access.
Camille has been a valued staff member of Ohio Voice since 2012, collaborating with table partners on programs that strengthen our democracy, including redistricting, fair courts and voter education. She received her J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She lives in Gahanna with her husband and two young girls.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:she/her/hers
One Ohio Now is the tax and budget coaltion that we support. If we advocate effectively on budget and tax policy, we can change the conversation about the need for revenue for public services and ultimately impact policy outcomes to that end.
Contributors:

Executive Director
Gavin Devore Leonard
Gavin DeVore Leonard is the Executive Director for Ohio Voice, responsible for fundraising and finance, strategic planning, and more.
His background includes serving as State Director of One Ohio Now (our budget and tax policy coalition) from 2011-17, State Director of Ohio’s Center for Progressive Leadership from ’08-’11, co-founder and Executive Director of Elementz (a hip hop-based youth arts center in Cincinnati) from ’05-’08, and years working for affordable housing organizations, canvassing on environmental issues, and plenty of volunteer work – often on racial justice and police accountability. He didn’t finish New York University because he was so excited to get to work :).
Gavin lives in Yellow Springs with his wife and two kids and loves rivers, basketball, Tetris, hip hop, flavorful food, and reading.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Budget & Tax Policy Director
Nick Bates
Nick has worked on state budget and tax policy since 2012 with One Ohio Now – advocating for great public services that strengthen our community. Nick has joint degrees from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Capital University Law School where his studies centered on a moral and ethical response to injustice in the world. Prior to his graduate studies, Nick worked for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) for nearly six years. He worked on voter registration, leadership development of homeless and transitional youth, and statewide ballot initiatives related to payday lending (2008) and minimum wage (2006). He also worked to bridge the gaps between multiple state and federal social service systems that allowed many youth to fall between the cracks during transition.
Nick is also a consecrated Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA) where he works to strengthen faith voices to build a stronger and more inclusive Ohio.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his
Theory of Change
The Ohio Voter Rights Coalition works to strengthen our democracy by making it easier to vote. OVRC coordinates election protection, democracy reform, and voter education efforts across the state.
Contributors: Camille Wimbish is the Election Administration Director for Ohio
Voice. She organizes statewide election protection efforts and
coordinates the Ohio Fair Elections Network (OFEN), which advocates for
modern election reforms and improved voter access. Camille has
been a valued staff member of Ohio Voice since 2012, collaborating with
table partners on programs that strengthen our democracy, including
redistricting, fair courts and voter education. She received her J.D.
from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and her bachelor’s
degree from Smith College. She lives in Gahanna with her husband and two
young girls. Email:[email protected] Pronouns:she/her/hers
Election Administration Director
Camille Wimbish, Esq.
Voter registration, particularly with youth and people of color, is a key step in the process of winning progressive policy reform in Ohio.
Our partners are embedded in communities around the state, working hard to close the parity gap for people of color on voter registration.
Contributors:

Data & Digital Director
Adam Parsons
Adam Parsons is the Data & Digital Director for Ohio Voice, and assists partners with VAN (Voter Activation Network) administration, campaign planning and analysis, and digital outreach tools and methods.
His background includes grassroots campaign infrastructure, volunteer management, and social media planning and advertising. He has an M.A. in modern U.S. history from Syracuse University and received his undergraduate degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Deputy Director
James Hayes
James is Ohio Voice’s Deputy Director, and works in close partnership with the Executive Director to set and meet organizational goals and budgets, develop strong relationships with partners and other stakeholders, and more.
In 2012, James co-founded the Ohio Student Association (OSA) where he served as Co-Director for four years. In 2015, James was named to the Root 100 as one of the one hundred most influential Black leaders in the country.
Most recently, James worked as Training Director for the Ayni Institute where he designed and led training programs on organizing and movement building for leaders from across the nation and across different movements.
James was born and raised in Columbus, OH where he currently lives with his wife Amelia and dog Ella. He graduated from the Ohio State University in 2012 with a degree in political science and a minor in history.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Executive Director
Gavin Devore Leonard
Gavin DeVore Leonard is the Executive Director for Ohio Voice, responsible for fundraising and finance, strategic planning, and more.
His background includes serving as State Director of One Ohio Now (our budget and tax policy coalition) from 2011-17, State Director of Ohio’s Center for Progressive Leadership from ’08-’11, co-founder and Executive Director of Elementz (a hip hop-based youth arts center in Cincinnati) from ’05-’08, and years working for affordable housing organizations, canvassing on environmental issues, and plenty of volunteer work – often on racial justice and police accountability. He didn’t finish New York University because he was so excited to get to work :).
Gavin lives in Yellow Springs with his wife and two kids and loves rivers, basketball, Tetris, hip hop, flavorful food, and reading.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his
Learn Together
We provide organizations with quality data support to help them become more efficient and effective.
In addition to traditional VAN support, Ohio Voice will provide devices, lists, and scripts to organizations, allowing them to iterate from a basic starting point and eliminating much of the preliminary work
Contributors:

Data & Digital Director
Adam Parsons
Adam Parsons is the Data & Digital Director for Ohio Voice, and assists partners with VAN (Voter Activation Network) administration, campaign planning and analysis, and digital outreach tools and methods.
His background includes grassroots campaign infrastructure, volunteer management, and social media planning and advertising. He has an M.A. in modern U.S. history from Syracuse University and received his undergraduate degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Outreach Manager
Charlie Stewart
Charlie Stewart is the Outreach Manager for Ohio Voice. They focus on community and relationship building, project management, outreach, communications and capacity and needs analysis for civic engagement programs.
Charlie was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Their background includes volunteer coordination and management, grassroots organizing, campaign strategic planning and analysis, event planning and fundraising. They graduated with a B.A studying political science, Spanish, and queer studies at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In their spare time, they are a guardian ad litem for Casa of Franklin County and organize a social justice group helping queer and trans people of color fight state sanctioned violence.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/their
The Vision for Ohio Fellowship (VOF) is an 18 month long leadership development program for emerging leaders of Ohio, with a focus on developing emerging leaders of color.
Contributors: Alwiyah Shariff is the Training & Fellowship Manager at Ohio Voice. In 2007, as a high-schooler, she started her organizing career on a campaign to raise the minimum wage and learned how to advocate for young people in the system. Since then, she has worked in multiple sectors of the social justice movement including protest organizing, lobbying, union organizing and field organizing – registering over 45,000 young people in Ohio to vote as Ohio Student Association’s Field Director. She’s also been a trainer for multiple training institutions including the Midwest Academy, Momentum and WildFire. She is coming to us from her role as the National Membership Coordinator with the Working Families Party and is eager to work (strictly) in Ohio at such a critical time in our country. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her family and loves to travel back home to East Africa. Email:[email protected] Pronouns:she/her/hers James is Ohio Voice’s Deputy Director, and works in close partnership
with the Executive Director to set and meet organizational goals and
budgets, develop strong relationships with partners and other
stakeholders, and more. In 2012, James co-founded the Ohio Student
Association (OSA) where he served as Co-Director for four years. In
2015, James was named to the Root 100 as one of the one hundred most
influential Black leaders in the country. Most recently, James
worked as Training Director for the Ayni Institute where he designed and
led training programs on organizing and movement building for leaders
from across the nation and across different movements. James was
born and raised in Columbus, OH where he currently lives with his wife
Amelia and dog Ella. He graduated from the Ohio State University in 2012
with a degree in political science and a minor in history. Email:[email protected] Pronouns:he/him/his
Training & Fellowship Manager
Alwiyah Shariff
Deputy Director
James Hayes
DOSS DOSS, the Digital Organizing Summer Series, is a 6 month long digital organizing training program aimed to increase the digital capacity among progressive nonprofits throughout Ohio. Through online trainings and 1:1 consultation support, participants in DOSS will leave fully able to craft and implement an effective digital campaign across social, web, phone and email platforms.
Contributors

Digital Engagement Manager
Katie LeBlanc
Katie LeBlanc is the Digital Engagement Manager at Ohio Voice, working with partners on scaling up and out their digital footprint, supporting on compelling story and content creation, streamlining external outreach, and training on best practices and tools for sustained development and organizational, digital growth. Her background includes strategic campaign planning, organizing rural communities and students throughout the Midwest and Southeast, operating small and mid-sized ecologically regenerative farms, and working with youth, communities of color, and farmers in expanding their social media presence, branding, and harnessing the power of authentic storytelling. She received her undergraduate degree from Murray State University in 2012, followed by a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Montana in 2015, specializing in organizational digital presence.
Katie lives in Columbus, Ohio where she maintains her flower and vegetable gardens, hosting community dinners, and building power with fellow indigenous people throughout Ohio.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:she/her/hers
Play Together
To identify and support more non-profits organizations doing civic engagement work for under-represented communities. We work with dozens of community organizations around the state and are always looking for new organizations to enter into relationship with.
Contributors:

Outreach Manager
Charlie Stewart
Charlie Stewart is the Outreach Manager for Ohio Voice. They focus on community and relationship building, project management, outreach, communications and capacity and needs analysis for civic engagement programs.
Charlie was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Their background includes volunteer coordination and management, grassroots organizing, campaign strategic planning and analysis, event planning and fundraising. They graduated with a B.A studying political science, Spanish, and queer studies at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In their spare time, they are a guardian ad litem for Casa of Franklin County and organize a social justice group helping queer and trans people of color fight state sanctioned violence.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/their
Progressive leaders deserve to have inspiring space to connect and be together. The People’s Mansion is a movement incubator that we launched to help bring the progressive movement together. Six organizations have office space at the mansion while other organizations and individuals make use of the co-working and event rental space on the first floor.
If we provide an inspiring space it will serve as a movement incubator for leaders from across the progressive ecosystem to build unity across our differences. We are an accessible educational, cultural, and coworking space that nurtures the emergence of a progressive Ohio through collective action, study, and community building.
Goals this Year
- Host events
- Raise revenue through coworking memberships
- Build deep relationships with other nonprofit organizations by sharing office space
Phase: In Progress, ongoing
Contributors:

Data & Digital Director
Adam Parsons
Adam Parsons is the Data & Digital Director for Ohio Voice, and assists partners with VAN (Voter Activation Network) administration, campaign planning and analysis, and digital outreach tools and methods.
His background includes grassroots campaign infrastructure, volunteer management, and social media planning and advertising. He has an M.A. in modern U.S. history from Syracuse University and received his undergraduate degree from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his

Finance and Administration Director
Katie Vaughn
Katie Vaughn is the Finance and Administration Director for Ohio Voice. She assists in the human resources, financial, administration, and operations of the organization.
Katie was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her background includes experience in human resources, finance, and administration at The Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development in Athens, Ohio, and many years of volunteering for the Family Readiness Group for the Kentucky National Guard. In 2019, Katie graduated from Capella University with her MBA with a specialization in human resources. Katie lives in Athens, Ohio with her husband and young daughter, and loves going on vacation, long walks on the beach, reading, and spending time with her family.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:she/her/hers

Deputy Director
James Hayes
James is Ohio Voice’s Deputy Director, and works in close partnership with the Executive Director to set and meet organizational goals and budgets, develop strong relationships with partners and other stakeholders, and more.
In 2012, James co-founded the Ohio Student Association (OSA) where he served as Co-Director for four years. In 2015, James was named to the Root 100 as one of the one hundred most influential Black leaders in the country.
Most recently, James worked as Training Director for the Ayni Institute where he designed and led training programs on organizing and movement building for leaders from across the nation and across different movements.
James was born and raised in Columbus, OH where he currently lives with his wife Amelia and dog Ella. He graduated from the Ohio State University in 2012 with a degree in political science and a minor in history.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:he/him/his
Work often happens at the speed of trust. That’s why taking time to focus on building community and deepening relationships between progressive leaders will increase our impact. So we host a variety of community building events in order to build the relational fabric of the progressive movement.
Contributors

Outreach Manager
Charlie Stewart
Charlie Stewart is the Outreach Manager for Ohio Voice. They focus on community and relationship building, project management, outreach, communications and capacity and needs analysis for civic engagement programs.
Charlie was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Their background includes volunteer coordination and management, grassroots organizing, campaign strategic planning and analysis, event planning and fundraising. They graduated with a B.A studying political science, Spanish, and queer studies at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. In their spare time, they are a guardian ad litem for Casa of Franklin County and organize a social justice group helping queer and trans people of color fight state sanctioned violence.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/their

Social Media Associate
Anyun Chatterjee
Anyun creates content and runs social media and webpages for Ohio Voice and its associates.
They completed a BA at UC Berkeley and an MPH in at George Washington. Anyun was part of the 2019 Vision for Ohio fellowship hosted by Ohio Voice. They joined OV after working for one of Ohio’s county health departments. Anyun lives in Westlake where they were born and raised. They enjoy playing the piano and running a popular public health meme page.
Email:[email protected]
Pronouns:they/them/theirs