Hello!
We hope that you are enjoying rest and quality time with friends and family this holiday season. Before we close out 2024, we wanted to share some of our top moments from the year.
As you know, Columbus Stand Up’s mission is to facilitate engagement in the electoral process. To that end, we were proud to lead a coalition of organizations in January to host a candidate forum for the Franklin County Prosecutor race. The primary race for that seat was very competitive and our forum allowed the over 200 voters who attended in person (and more who streamed online!) to get an early look at the candidates. The forum also applied pressure on the local Democratic Party to abstain from endorsing, allowing for a fair race where voters got to decide.
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This November general election made clear that young voters have the power to swing elections, but it can be challenging to understand the best way to engage this generation in politics. This past fall, we worked with a student leader wanting to organize her generation directly by hosting a forum specifically targeting voters 17-25 years old ahead of the November general election for prosecutor and the Ohio Supreme Court. We were honored to have Kerry Charles and Natalie Fahmy from our Columbus NBC affiliate moderate. We also conducted biweekly phonebanks targeting Black voters in central Ohio leading up to the general election.
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At Columbus Stand Up, we also strive to meet people where they’re at to bring them into the political process. This year, we were proud to partner for the first time with the Columbus Classic, an annual event highlighting Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to host a spades tournament where we also shared more information about the Franklin County prosecutor race.
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Finally, this year we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Ohio Climate Justice Fund to organize community conversations on climate change. The funds allowed us to host three events in Columbus Black neighborhoods that provided introductory information on climate change, clean energy, and some of the workforce opportunities in the clean energy industry. Though it can feel like the media has extensively covered climate issues, many participants expressed surprise about how much of the information was brand new and motivated them to get more involved in the environmental justice movement. Shout out to our key partners for the climate events: Green Energy Columbus, Black Girl Environmentalists, and Impact Community Action. If you're in Columbus, RSVP for our final event in January hosted in partnership with Black Men Build!
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After the November election, I know a lot of us are trying to make sense of what the results mean for our country, state, and local community. The past few weeks, we have regularly found ourselves thinking back to our final phonebank on Election Day. We had about twenty volunteers in person and online. Some came from our different organizational partners, others were community members just wanting to get involved to make sure their neighbors voted. All of us left feeling energized from having spent the day together with a common purpose. Regardless of the uncertainty that surrounds us, committing to building political power with one another will put us in a stronger position for whatever comes next. Thank you for being part of our journey.
Warmly,
Morgan & Kwesi
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P.S. If your end of year giving plans allow, please consider donating to support our efforts in 2025.
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