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A Note from Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director Rhiannon Carnes

Three years ago, Erin and I sat across from each other at a diner booth over breakfast sharing our dreams of creating a year-round organizing group that centered the vision of grassroots leaders in Ohio. Over MANY cups of coffee together, we planned a listening tour to travel the state, meeting with women and gender nonconfirming folks about their organizing needs, issue area priorities, and how we could build an organization dedicated to their support and success.

This summer marks the 3-year anniversary of the listening tours that led to the creation of our Pillars of Prosperity, our issue platform that has driven the work of the Ohio Women’s Alliance over the last three years. During the listening tour, womxn across Ohio shared the most significant priorities and challenges in their personal lives and community, which continues to inform our annual strategic plans and supporting programs.

As we begin the Ohio Women’s Alliance’s fourth year as an organization fighting for true reproductive justice in Ohio, we want to thank our many partners, members, and supporters who have been working with us to create healthier communities, advocate for a more just and equitable democracy, and protect womxn. With access to abortion hanging on by a thread in Ohio, it is more critical than ever to uplift Black, brown, indigenous, AAPI, Latinx, and all women of color as leaders in our fight for collective liberation. When you invest in organizations led by women of color, you center the folks most directly impacted by the archaic laws and policies that govern all of our lives. 

Please click here to donate $40 to help us celebrate our 4th year of OWA’s Pillars of Prosperity!

As we celebrate all we have done and the hard fight that lies ahead, please join us as we renew our commitment to our Pillars of Prosperity:

WE BELIEVE IN HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

  • Access to full reproductive care including safe and legal abortion

  • Improving maternal and infant care, specifically addressing the disproportionate Black infant and maternal mortality rates

  • Recovery services for people struggling with an addiction disorder

  • Recovery services for survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking

  • Access to affordable prescriptions

  • Hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgeries for LGBTQIA+ folks

  • Culturally competent healthcare including mental health services that are culturally competent and anti-racist

  • Addressing biases against people with visible and invisible disabilities

  • Expanding the Affordable Care Act

  • Introducing a single-payer healthcare system

WE BELIEVE IN DECARCERATION AND REHABILITATION

  • Rehabilitation, restoration, and re-entry programs

  • Dismantling school-to-prison and school-to-human-trafficking pipelines

  • Decriminalizing sex work

  • Abolishing cash bail

  • Abolishing US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE)

  • Justice for disproportionately incarcerated Black and brown folks

  • Abolishing the death penalty

  • Acknowledging racialized criminalization within drug classification

  • Abolishing privatized prisons

WE BELIEVE IN STRONG, EQUITABLE EDUCATION

  • Equitable public school funding

  • Universal Pre-K

  • Removing police officers from all schools 

  • Diverse and representative teaching and administrative staff in schools

  • Well-resourced teachers

  • Policies protecting LGBTQIA+ students

  • Dismantling redlining practices and addressing their impact

  • Freedom to determine educational pathways regardless of income or zip code

WE BELIEVE IN ECONOMIC PROSPERITY FOR ALL

  • Community economic development centered in the needs of the residents 

  • Support for community care and mutual aid networks

  • Fair and livable wages for all

  • Resources and employment for folks with disabilities

  • Protecting and expanding social safety net programs 

  • Protection from employer discrimination due to race, gender identity, ability, age, religion, sexual identity, etc. 

WE BELIEVE IN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS SUPPORT

  • Support for immigrants and refugees, including ending inhumane detainment

  • Fighting climate change, which contributes to global humanitarian crises

  • Holding our elected officials accountable to take action during a humanitarian crisis

  • Access to free PPE

  • Access to rapid, accurate COVID-19 testing

  • Black Lives Matter

  • Prosecuting and convicting police officers who commit state-sanctioned violence against Black people

  • Protecting AAPI communities from xenophobia and violence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • The right to self-determination for all, including citizenship if desired

  • Protecting and expanding Indigenous lands, communities, culture, acknowledging and repairing the harms of colonization

WE BELIEVE IN SAFE COMMUNITIES

  • Demilitarization of police forces

  • Addressing white nationalism and domestic terrorism through common-sense gun laws

  • Addressing a culture of toxic masculinity and misogynoir 

  • Policies and laws protecting LGBTQIA+ folks from violence and harassment

  • Support for family and children impacted by the state-sanctioned drug epidemic 

  • Divestment in police, investment in community resources independent of the state

  • Defending the rights of protesters, especially Black community organizers and activists

  • All people should have access to safe, affordable housing options and the right to determine where and how they live

  • All Ohioans have multiple ways to access healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food within their own communities

  • Ensuring the supply chains that feed Ohioans and provide energy are modern, efficient, and resilient

WE BELIEVE IN AN INCLUSIVE, REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

  • Expanding and protecting voter rights, especially in Black communities

  • Campaign finance reform, including spending and in-kind donation limits

  • Dismantling gerrymandering through a fair and transparent redistricting process

  • Investing in communities of color year-round, not just during the election season

  • Creating sustainable and inclusive pipelines to leadership, including but not limited to running for office

  • Empowering directly impacted people to have a voice and a stake in policy and legislation within their community

  • Advocating for automatic and same-day voter registration

  • Improving the vote-by-mail system accessibility and accuracy 

Thank you for your continued support and advocacy to create a more just and equitable Ohio for all!

Sincerely,

Rhiannon Carnes
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director

Mary Ellen Madden