
Hello,
a bit about me:
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Provider of development, communications, operational, and consultative services, with specializations in nonprofits and small businesses
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Board leader with experience in founding, growing, funding, and advancing organizations
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Community advocate, deeply invested in structural and social equity for my communities and neighborhood
I love to amplify impactful messages that are supported in coalition and sought after in community. If that's not your organization's biography right now, it can be.
Check out my most recent book: In Trouble, out on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Proceeds benefit the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Nonprofits
Extensive experience as a nonprofit team member, consultant, board chair, and founding member of new and newly established nonprofits
Communications
Writer, editor, producer, and project manager of public-facing communications collateral, including marketing, public relations, and crisis work
Leadership
Team management experience in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, and wide experience leading community, grassroots, service, and political efforts
Connectivity
More than a decade of experience in organizing, with deep northeast Ohio roots and a national network of grasstops and political elders and leaders
Co-founder, REACH: Responding with Empathy, Access, and Community Healing (2021-present) | Board Chair and Incorporator, The Buckeye Flame (2020-2022) | Board Chair, Preterm (2017-2020) (Board Member, 2014-2020) | Board Member, Plexus LGBTQ + Allied Chamber of Commerce (2018-2020) (Chamber Member, 2015-2022) | Cofounder, Cleveland Bi+ Network | Cofounder, Bi+ Community Affinity Group, LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland | Cofounder, Cleveland Kings Action Pack | Member, Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus | Member, Collective Arts Network (CAN) | Former Board Vice Chair and Incorporator, Guide to Kulchur | re:power graduate, campaign management | Cohort XIV member, Neighborhood Leadership Development Program (NLDP) | Graduate, University of Maryland
Current Projects
While I have experience in many sectors and content areas, these are the focal points of my organizing and advocacy practices.

Expansion of Crisis Services
Right now, northeast Ohio communities all rely primarily on police officers as first responders to all types of situations. The toolbox police officers and other providers have to serve a wide (and growing) range of community needs is very limited. Northeast Ohio must develop a more complete continuum of care for all health services, and particularly behavioral health and crisis services.

Care Response (Non-Police Response)
Police officers are not trained or resourced appropriately to respond to calls related to behavioral health, homelessness, substance use or withdrawal, suicidality, or other crises. Providing these types of situations with responders who specialize in social services, healthcare, and crisis intervention will provide better outcomes for all of us, as these programs have proven in other areas of the country.

Abortion Access
I served as a board member and eventually board chair at Preterm, Ohio's largest independent abortion provider, for many years. My achievements are due entirely to my own ability to access the care of my choice earlier in life. I remain dedicated to building bridges for access for all community members, funding clinics, and expanding providers' knowledge of abortion care.
Recent Media
Interview: "Cleveland advocates make the case for non-police response to mental health crisis calls," WKSU, August 2022
Interview: "Why police are the wrong first responders for a mental health crisis," Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 2022
Column: "Reminder: Ohio’s Trigger Ban on Abortion Affects LGBTQ+ People Too," The Buckeye Flame, 2021