Grant Period:
2021-2023
Grant Type:
General Support
Other Funders:
Ohio Transformation Fund Greater Cincinnati Foundation The George Gund Foundation
Amount:
$75,000 per year for 2 years
Location:
Youngstown, OH
Focus Area:
Cincinnati and Dayton
Mission
Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) is a grassroots people-centered power organization. We unite base-building community organizing groups, student associations and faith organizations, with labor unions, and policy institutes throughout Ohio. It is our mission to organize everyday Ohioans, building transformative power organizations for racial, social, and economic justice. Our vision is to build a democratic multi-racial populist governing coalition in Ohio.
Partnerships
AFSCME, the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, NAACP
Contact
Project Summary
The purpose of this project is to build on successful campaigns in Cincinnati and Dayton, in which public referendums created funding streams to increase equitable access to quality preschool in those cities. OOC will work with parents, early childcare educators, and other providers to improve implementation as well as build a statewide network of parents and providers for larger investment in early childcare.
Members of OOC were instrumental in driving local victories, which were designed to fund preschool for three and four-year-old children from low-income communities and communities of color. After passage, however, many children of color and child care providers from marginalized communities didn’t receive the stipends that were intended to make learning environments more equitable.
Over the two years of the grant, OOC will invest in and develop the leadership of parents and early educators, including strategies such as one-to-one support and coaching, training, strategy development, direct actions, and active campaigns. OOC will continue to focus on winning sustainable pay raises with early childhood educators; including home-based teachers and owners. The long-term goal is to win access to high-quality early education and care for every child in Ohio with strong investment in wages and the workforce.
Selected Action Steps Related to RCCF Goals
Lift parent, child care teacher, home-based child care provider, caregiver and ally voices and increase their participation in crafting policy solutions in states and/or communities
- Build parent-led action teams in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Southeast Ohio, as well as across state parent-led group.
- Conduct quarterly leadership trainings.
- Conduct two actions in the first year.
Build effective coordination among RCCF grantees and advocacy groups, community groups, parents, child care teachers, home-based child care providers, caregivers, and allies
- Advance a central leadership team in Greater Cincinnati to monitor implementation of Preschool Promise.
- Build relationships and strategic partnerships with key statewide early childhood advocacy organizations.
- Establish OOC regular communication and coordination in state-level planning for child care advocacy
Expand financial resources to secure increased and equitable access to quality child care, including through intentional strategies to reach and prioritize children and families most affected by injustice and inequity
- Work with parents in Cincinnati to identify priorities and issues, to create a public agenda / platform. Support and advance a Preschool Promise renewal levy, slated for November 2020.
- Promote Parent Platform as part of Cincinnati School Board elections process.
- Develop a state-wide access to quality child care framework and narrative with a race and class equity lens.
Updated July 23, 2020