GrassRoot Ohio

Carolyn Harding with Rita Hallaveld and Carissa Roberts, organizers for the DSA, (Democratic Socialists of America) Central Ohio Childcare for All initiative.

Rita Hallaveld (she/her) is passionate about community building and organizing with an eye toward addressing the root causes of issues. With a background in social work, she previously worked as a mental health therapist for a decade, first in community based work then in private practice. A single parent of a preschooler, Rita currently dedicates her spare time to organizing with Columbus DSA's Child Care Campaign and volunteers on the board of a summer camp. She is an outdoor enthusiast, with hiking and rock climbing among her favorite activities.

Carissa Roberts (she/they) grew up in Upper Arlington and attended The Ohio State University, studying Spanish Linguistics. As a childhood trauma and relationship abuse survivor with chronic mental health issues, she is passionate about pursuing collective solutions to systemic issues that impact our individual lives. Carissa joined the Columbus DSA Child Care Campaign to advance feminist, racial, and economic justice through prioritizing the needs of children, parents, and early childhood educators at a local level here in Central Ohio. Outside of the Child Care Campaign, she is also a dedicated volunteer with the Central Ohio Housing Action Network, helping to connect tenants facing eviction in Franklin County with legal resources.

Last week at the Ohio Education Association march, I met Rita and asked her why she was marching. She shared her Childcare for All campaign with me, and I think we all will benefit to learn more about this Need and their campaign’s proposed solutions.

May 14th Coalition kickoff registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZ0sduCrqTsjEt2vwgdGPPHv4J9GB...

Sign-up to be involved or stay in the loop: https://tinyurl.com/mw5frp69

And DSA's website for the local chapter: www.columbusdsa.org

GrassRoot Ohio, Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back! See less

Carolyn Harding with Sherry Fleming and Susan Catterall, water protectors of the Michindoh Aquifer.

According to epa.gov “In 2007, the city of Bryan, Ohio applied to U.S. EPA to designate the Michindoh Aquifer as a "sole-source" aquifer. That designation means the aquifer is the only source of drinking water for people in a nine-county area that includes parts of three states. Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Sherry Fleming is the chairperson for the Williams County Alliance, a grassroots 501c3 citizen group, promoting a sustainable future through education and citizen action. The Alliance has been involved with issues such as factory farms, tire pyrolysis, fracking and water privatization. Sherry graduated from OSU with a degree in animal science production. She and her husband Ted live on a small homestead in Williams County. Sherry also serves on the board of the Ohio Community Rights Network and is coordinator for the Bryan Food Co-op.

Susan Kipfer Catterall was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and currently resides in Hamilton, Indiana. She is married with five adult children. Susan is a direct support professional employed by Full Potential, Inc., and she’s the DSP of her two adult sons on the autism spectrum. Advocating for her disabled children led her to activism. She is an organizer for United Activist of Fort Wayne. She volunteers at the local animal shelter, Literacy for Companionship, and serves as the treasurer for Feline Fixers. Susan serves as the precinct chair of her township with the democratic party in Steuben County, and is an active member in The Green Party of northeast Indiana. Sherry lives over the aquifer in Indiana, and in 2018 she created the Michindoh Water Warriors FB page after she became aware there was an effort to sell water from the aquifer to the Toledo area. Susan’s worked to raise the awareness of the people and electeds in Indiana.

https://www.facebook.com/wmscoa/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/726682254348572

GrassRoot Ohio, Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Greg Coleridge and Sandy Bolzenius organizers with Move to Amend, a movement to Amend the US Constitution to codify that Corporations are not People & Money is not speech.

Greg Coleridge is Co-Director of Move to Amend. He worked for more than three decades with the American Friends Service Committee in Ohio where he educated, advocated and organized on a range of justice, peace, environmental and democracy issues -- including helping coordinate Move to Amend activities in the Buckeye state. He is the author of The Depth of Change: Selected Writings and Remarks on Social Change (2022), Citizens over Corporations: A Brief History of Democracy in Ohio and Challenges to Freedom in the Future (2003), writer of the documentary CorpOrNation: The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio (2003), and contributed several articles to the anthology Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy - A Book of History and Strategy (2001). He currently maintains and distributes via email a weekly REAL Democracy History Calendar and Monetary History Calendar.

Sandy Bolzenius is a longtime resident of Columbus where she has volunteered for Move to Amend for ten years. She is an Army veteran and a former international teacher with a doctorate in History from the Ohio State University. Specializing in Gender and African American studies, she is the author of Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took on the Army during World War II (University of Illinois Press, 2018). Sandy's interest in the dynamics of gender, race, class, and public policies, drew her to Move to Amend. Additionally, local environmental concerns drew her to the Columbus Community Bill of Rights for which she also volunteers.

I first heard about Move to Amend 8 years ago when I was getting started in protecting Ohio’s water, air and soil regarding fracking. I was new to activism, pretty idealistic and Move to Amend seemed nebulous to me. I liked what I heard, but I wasn’t sure what the game plan was. Fast forward to Now, and this proposed 28th Amendment is more clear to me.

Move to Amend

https://www.movetoamend.org/

https://www.movetoamend.org/motion

https://www.movetoamend.org/corporate-constitutional-rights

https://www.movetoamend.org/organizations

https://www.movetoamend.org/resolutions-in-support

Others - related

https://createrealdemocracy.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/the-depth-of-change/

https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/

https://monetarycalendar.wordpress.com/

https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/03/02/to-reclaim-ohioans-historical-power-first-energys-corporate-charter-should-be-revoked/?fbclid=IwAR0d9WFZjw4WJyKqGsogLFdd4O_Ps6erG_6-WYHe9lnonRbuldeXwsO1n00

University of Illinois Press. https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p083334

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Tish O’Dell, a powerful voice for justice in Ohio, the US and Globally.

Tish has been a Community Organizer for CELDF (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund) since 2012 assisting residents to organize rights based initiatives in their communities in order to help them “make real” the just and sustainable communities they envision for the future. CELDF has assisted hundreds of communities across the country to develop “first in the nation” laws banning fracking, factory farming, sludging, water privatization, industrial scale energy development, and others addressing worker’s rights, homeless rights, immigrant rights, fair election issues and nature’s rights, including the first in the nation law recognizing the rights of a specific ecosystem, the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in 2019.

Tish is a founding board member of the Ohio Community Rights Network (OHCRN), organizing and assisting county chapters to build a movement of community rights organizing throughout the state to culminate in constitutional change that will guarantee people’s rights to local self-governance and the rights of people and nature over corporations.

From the Columbus Dispatch, "Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Monday removing training, background check and permitting requirements to carry a concealed weapon in Ohio….Prior law required them to undergo eight hours of training, a background check, and an application through their local sheriff….”

“In 2006 the legislature passed a law preemptively blocking Ohio cities from passing any gun restrictions stricter than those established by the state. The law was used to squash lawsuits from Ohio cities including Clyde, Cleveland and Cincinnati seeking to regulate guns within their borders.”

State legislators have been very busy writing and passing preemptive laws. According to a Cincinnati.com article, “The Ohio Municipal League has a tally of 17 laws passed since 2003 and another 21 pending bills that usurp local control.” Plastic bag bans, traffic cameras, minimum wage proposals, to HB 278 (125GA) – which preempted municipal authority over permitting, location and spacing of oil and gas wells on municipal property.

Welcome Tish, congratulations on your book, Death by Democracy!

celdf.org

https://celdf.org/2017/08/blog-ceiling-preemption-weapon-democracy/

https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/documents/reference/current/membersonlybriefs/133Municipal%20Home%20Rule.pdf

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Home_rule_in_the_United_States

https://columbusbillofrights.org/rights-of-nature-workshop/

https://celdf.org/2022/01/new-book-death-by-democracy/

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Esther Flores and Molly Cruz, on the front-lines of human trafficking in Columbus, Ohio.

Esther Flores founded 1DivineLine2Health, a 501c3 public charity, gathering medical supplies for local and international clinics.

In Columbus she operates two safe houses that serve survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, and addiction. Her team supports sex workers on the streets by feeding and providing first aid, Narcan, clothes and she operates the Love Drop-In

Center. In January 2021, she opened the first full-time Drop-In Center for women, their children, and transgender folks caught in the dark world of human trafficking. She created the Hilltop Butterfly community garden and in the summer produces the Camping in the Hood is Good event. Flores received her bachelor’s degree in Nursing from The Ohio State University, a bachelor’s degree in Physical Anthropology, Biology and Chemistry from Lehman College, and an MBA in Health Care Administration from the University of Phoenix. She is an advocate for the Ohio Health Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio and a certified Trauma Informed and Responsive Trainer by Tristate Trauma Network.

Molly Cruz is a certified peer supporter and a survivor using her lived experience to help other woman in crisis. She’s currently studying to get her bachelor’s in addiction recovery services through Clark State including her Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant (CDCA). She has been working at 1divineline2 health for 5 months and it has been the most rewarding and simultaneously heartbreaking work she’s ever been a part of.

Just yesterday a Columbus man was indicted for five felony counts, human trafficking in persons, rape, compelling prostitution, promoting prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation of a minor. Last weekend was the Arnold Sports Festival which spikes human trafficking in Central Ohio, and in October, 2021, “Ohio Knows” the largest human trafficking sting in Ohio history, a net 161 (including a city councilman, a fire fighter, a college professor) arrested for attempting to buy sex.

You work is on the front lines of this crime. Your work is a bright light of hope, help and belonging for the victims of human trafficking.

What do you need?

How can we help?

1dl2h.org

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Bill Lyons and Susie Beiersdorfer, Ohio community rights activists and co-writers of the new book, “Death by Democracy”.

Bill Lyons is a co-organizer of Columbus Community Bill of Rights, a group that is working to protect the water of the Columbus metro area from toxic and radioactive fracking waste. Bill is also the president of the Ohio Community Rights Network (OHCRN) whose mission is to establish a network of just communities in Ohio working to advance community rights and rights of nature. Bill also teaches mathematics at Columbus State Community College and has taught mathematics and science on 4 different continents.

Susie Beiersdorfer is a teacher, geologist, community activist and tree planter who has lived in Youngstown, Ohio for 28 years. Growing up in Bakersfield, California, her family owned an oil tool service company. After getting a BS in Geology from University of California at Davis, Susie worked as a mudlogger in the oil and gas fields of California. Susie taught elementary school in California, homeschooled her twin daughters, and taught Geology and Environmental Sciences at Youngstown State University. She co-founded Frackfree Mahoning Valley and the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights Committee, qualifying 10 citizen initiatives for the ballot between 2013-2018. She is secretary for the Ohio Community Rights Network and president of the National Community Rights Network.

Death by Democracy - pretty dramatic title! Let’s talk about your work and why you each have a chapter in this book.

Susie, I’ve known you for nearly 12 years. I first met you in Youngstown at a fracking workshop held in the Unitarian Church, and the time we delivered petitions to Governor John Kasich’s office to end toxic oil & gas fracking. Bill, we’ve worked together almost that long. We first met at the radioactive waste alert presentation of Mark Jacobson from Stanford University, and his comprehensive plan for global renewable energy.

Susie, tell us about your work in Youngstown.

Bill, tell us about your work in Columbus.

OHIOCRN.org

CELDF.org

ColumbusBillofRights.org

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Craig Ness and Stephanie Pasamonte, bike lane advocates in the Columbus Metro region.

Craig Ness is a transit advocate who resides in Bexley, Ohio. He has been a member of the Bexley Bike Plan Steering Committee since 2019 and uses cycling as a primary means of transportation. Craig holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Wake Forest University and is currently employed as a user experience designer. He is a member of a local collective called Safe Routes Bexley which promotes traffic calming and transit alternatives.

Stephanie Pasamonte is a transit and mobility advocate living in Columbus, Ohio. Their work is informed by their lived experience in cities and small towns across the country. After immigrating from the Philippines in the early 90s, Stephanie and their family have largely depended on public transportation to get around. Their primary focus is on increasing mobility options as a means of achieving racial and economic equity and building sustainable communities in the era of climate change. Stephanie is the Vice Chair of Transit Columbus and a volunteer transit organizer with the Ohio Sierra Club.

Last week I attended the Bexley city council meeting. There was a presentation of two redevelopment options for Drexel Avenue, Bexley’s main artery from Broad Street to Main Street, which is Bexley’s civic, business, and university district. Plan B included a designated bike lane, Plan A did not. As a resident, a city biker, and an environmental advocate, I went to the council mtg to learn. And I left the meeting, realizing that changing infrastructure is complicated, controversial and galvanizing. So, let’s look at this more deeply.

https://transitcolumbus.org/

Transit Columbus champions an integrated public transportation system for the people of Central Ohio to improve the safety, health, environment and economic vitality of the entire Columbus region.

https://www.facebook.com/SafeRoutesBexley/.

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

When Christopher Austin asked to interview me for GrassRoot Ohio, I said YES to to my fellow actor/activist friend - this is Chris’ show & I’m in the hot seat! Shout out to Curtain Players Performance - The Laramie Project!

Carolyn Harding with Christopher Austin, fellow artist/activist and colleague.

Christopher Austin graduated from Otterbein University with a major in Theatre and received his Master’s Degree in Pastoral and Professional Counseling from Methodist Theological School. He has received awards for his theatrical performances and completed his first feature film “Things Are Tough All Over,” directed by local film maker Chris Bournea. Christopher has worked in the field of counseling and social work for 6 years and has received recognition and awards for his work in the field. He is active in the Columbus community with the goal helping people find their voice of empowerment through the arts, volunteering in religious and community outreach, and social activism.

In June, 2020, I interviewed Chris on GrassRoot Ohio. His petition to take down the Christopher Columbus statue in front of the Columbus City Hall, was the straw that broke the camels back, after years of activists’ work to bring this symbol of trauma down.

But I first got to know Chris from our other shared world - the Arts.

In November, 2012, we were in a theatrical production of To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Mark Mann. Chris played the role of Tom Robbins, the man falsely accused and convicted of rape by a white woman. I played Ms. Stephanie, the nosey neighbor of Atticus Finch- white, privileged, complicit, racist.

In July, 2019, Chris was cast as the lead character in “Things are Tough All Over”, an independent feature film by Chris Bournea, and I was cast as the school principal, this time an ally.

Two months ago Chris asked me if he could interview me for GrassRoot Ohio. I was taken back, a bit flummoxed, with everything going on in our world….

But I said yes to Chris and so here we are.

This is Christopher Austins’ show, and I’m in the hot seat.

Friday 5 pm broadcast on WGRN.org, GrassRoot Ohio now airs on Sunday’s, at 2pm on WCRSFM.org, 92.7/98.3 FM Columbus, and at 4pm on WEJP-LP, 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV.

You can also find us on Soundcloud, Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, Face Book & Instagram. Thanks for joining us.

Carolyn Harding with Morgan Harper, Democratic candidate running to represent Ohio in the United States Senate.

Morgan Harper was born at The Ohio State University Hospital, living in a foster home for the first 9 months of her life before being adopted and raised on the east side of Columbus by a Public Schools teacher. After receiving financial aid with help from the Ron Brown Scholar Program, Morgan went on to graduate from Tufts (BA), Princeton (MA) and Stanford (JD). After graduating, Morgan clerked at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, worked as a paralegal at the Federal Trade Commission, and served as a Senior Advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under the Obama Administration protecting consumers against predatory corporations.

Most recently, Morgan was Director of Policy & Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project and also co-founded Columbus Stand Up! a grassroots community organization that mobilized volunteers across Central Ohio in response to the pandemic and 2020 election.

Morgan is now running to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate to get political and economic power back on the side of working people.

5 months ago, you kicked off your US Senate campaign in front of the Ohio State House. You’re a woman, 38 years old, a progressive Democrat running against the establishment Democrat candidate, Congressman, Tim Ryan.

Why you, Why now?

MorganHarper.org

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!

Carolyn Harding with Louise Valentine and Mikayla Lee, organizers with Women LEADing Ohio, part of the non-profit, Lead Ohio. Their mission is to make a difference in communities across Ohio by recruiting, training, supporting and empowering progressive leaders in all regions of the state.

Louise Valentine has been the Deputy Director for LEAD Ohio since February 2019. Louise was a graduate of the 2018 LEAD Ohio LEADership Academy, which helped prepare her to run for Ohio Senate in district 19. The skills she learned and the relationships she built in the program helped propel her to the highest ever vote total for a Democrat in Delaware County. Louise is a lifelong resident of Ohio, born and raised in Elyria and attended The Ohio State University. Before her life in politics, Louise spent over 12 years in various roles in corporate retail in Central Ohio.

Mikayla Lee is a recent graduate from The Ohio State University where she studied Economics and Public Affairs. Mikayla is passionate about electoral politics and progressive and inclusive government. She most recently managed State Representative Jessica Miranda’s successful re-election campaign in Cincinnati, Ohio, and previously interned on federal campaigns, at the Ohio Statehouse, and on Capitol Hill. Mikayla has joined LEAD Ohio as a Communications and Research Associate.

With Ohio’s recently drawn gerrymandered district maps, currently being sued before the Ohio Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, we see that there is one woman to six men in the redistricting commission that created these discriminatory maps.

Will more (progressive) women in seats of power make Ohio more fair, more equitable, more democratic?

Leadohio.org

GrassRoot Ohio - Conversations with everyday people working on important issues, here in Columbus and all around Ohio.

Every Friday 5:00pm, EST on 94.1FM & streaming worldwide @ WGRN.org,

Sundays at 2:00pm EST on 92.7/98.3 FM and streams @ WCRSFM.org, and Sundays at 4:00pm EST, at 107.1 FM, Wheeling/Moundsville WV on WEJP-LP FM.

Contact Us if you would like GrassRoot Ohio on your local station.

Check us out and Like us on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/GrassRootOhio/

Check us out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/grassroot_ohio/

If you miss the Friday broadcast, you can find it here: All shows/podcasts archived at SoundCloud! https://soundcloud.com/user-42674753

GrassRoot Ohio is now on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../grassroot-ohio/id1522559085

This GrassRoot Ohio interview can also be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAX2t1Z7_qae803BzDF4PtQ/

Intro and Exit music for GrassRoot Ohio is "Resilient" by Rising Appalachia: https://youtu.be/tx17RvPMaQ8

There's a time to listen and learn, a time to organize and strategize, And a time to Stand Up/ Fight Back!