What happens when a statewide citizen initiative becomes something much bigger?

In this Taking Initiative: Spotlight on an Initiative, we catch up with Conserve Ohio attorneys Nick Owens and Austin Baurichter as their effort to restrict large data centers moves forward on multiple fronts.

Since our last conversation, ten local charter amendments have qualified for the November ballot, another is headed to a January special election, legal challenges have reached the Ohio Supreme Court, and organizers are now calling on the Ohio General Assembly to enact a 12-month moratorium on new data center development.

Nick and Austin take us behind the scenes of the legal victories and setbacks, explain why communities are pursuing different approaches, and share what they're learning about Ohio's extraordinary tools of local direct democracy - while the world is watching us.

Most importantly, this is a story about what happens when ordinary Ohioans discover the legal tools available to them — and start using them.

🎙️ Spotlight on an Initiative (Ban Mega Data Centers OH Initiative | Ohio Ballot Protection) follows citizen-led efforts through the process: the progress, the setbacks and what organizers learn along the way.

Learn more about Ohio’s initiative and referendum powers: https://ohioballotprotection.com/ 

Taking Initiative Podcast:    / @ohioballotprotection 

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How does an everyday concern become a ballot initiative — and ultimately, a law?

Rev. Ray Greene of Freedom BLOC joins Taking Initiative to share a remarkably straightforward organizing philosophy: listen to people, build relationships and start local.

Greene takes us inside Freedom BLOC's work in Akron, where community conversations have helped shape citizen-led ballot initiatives addressing housing and public safety. But for Greene, winning at the ballot box isn't the only goal. The initiative process is also a way to help people discover their own power, develop new leaders and build stronger communities.

His message: lasting change happens neighbor by neighbor — because organizing moves at the speed of trust.

Learn more about The Freedom BLOC: Home | thefreedombloc

Learn more about Ohio’s initiative and referendum powers: https://ohioballotprotection.com/ 

Taking Initiative Podcast:    / @ohioballotprotection 

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What happens when people use direct democracy to challenge power — and power pushes back?

Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, Executive Director of the BISC (http://www.ballot.org), joins Taking Initiative to explore the national landscape of citizen-led ballot measures and the growing fight to protect them.

Chris takes us from Missouri’s recent defense of majority rule to Ohio’s unique role as a national testing ground for direct democracy. Along the way, she explains why citizen initiatives are about much more than winning an election: they give ordinary people the power and agency to shape their communities, challenge government and turn ideas into change.

Because democracy is about more than casting a vote. It’s about what we do with the power we have.

Learn more about Ohio’s initiative and referendum powers: https://ohioballotprotection.com/ 

Taking Initiative Podcast:    / @ohioballotprotection 

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In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt came to Columbus to address the Ohio Constitutional Convention as delegates reconsidered how power should be shared between government and the people.

In his landmark speech, A Charter of Democracy, Roosevelt argued that initiative and referendum should give citizens a direct path to act when representative government fails to represent them. Later that year, Ohio voters approved constitutional amendments establishing those powers.

More than a century later, his message still resonates:

“The power is the people’s, and only the people’s.”

This special presentation of Taking Initiative brings Roosevelt’s words back to life—and reconnects Ohioans with the history behind one of the most important powers reserved to them in their state constitution.

Voice of Theodore Roosevelt: Adam the Bull, host of The Bullpen with Adam the Bull. We are grateful to Adam for generously donating his voice and talent to this project.

🎙️ Hear more from Adam: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBullpenwithATB

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Learn more about Ohio’s initiative and referendum powers: https://ohioballotprotection.com/

Taking Initiative Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@OhioBallotProtection

What happens when a statewide citizen initiative hits a roadblock? Conserve Ohio attorneys Nick Owens and Austin Baurichter share how their movement is taking direct democracy local — helping Ohio communities use their own power to address mega data centers. Their work also offers a preview of what’s coming soon from Ohio Ballot Protection: a new toolkit to help Ohioans turn “What can we do?” into action.

(Taped Aug. 6, 2026)

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In this episode, Taking Initiative co-hosts Laura Lucarelli and Patricia Blackmon debrief on what they've learned while interviewing the changemakers in Ohio's direct democracy over the last few months. Plus, Pat turns the mic on Laura to learn how the podcast came to be. They talk about direct democracy, the importance of protecting the people's power, and "what's in it for all of us" by getting involved.

In our Spotlight on an Initiative, the Conserve Ohio group announces 2027 is the new target for getting on the ballot. Then three of the initiative leaders attend a weekly commissioners meeting and voice concerns with others in the community about plans for a data center being built in Adams County.

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Ohio Equal Rights and Right to Marry Amendment petitions moved their goal from getting on the ballot from 2026 to 2027.

Meet Conserve Ohio volunteer Austin Baurichter, part of the attorney duo who drafted the petition to ban mega data centers in Ohio. Austin talks about quitting his job when he found himself at a moral crossroads so he could help his neighbors through Conserve Ohio. Learn how he and a second attorney researched and carefully considered language that ultimately passed the single subject review of the Ohio Ballot Board. Listen as he describes how empowering it has been to work with people of different ideologies and backgrounds coming together for a common purpose.

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In our Spotlight on an Initiative (Ban Mega Data Centers OH Initiative), Conserve Ohio takes advantage of an opportunity to provide public testimony to Ohio's Select Committee on Data Centers. It was a long day for Nikki Gerber and others who traveled from Southern Ohio to the Statehouse to voice their opposition. Nikki shares what happened at the Statehouse and why she's grateful to all those encouraging Conserve Ohio's ballot measure.