At Ohio Women’s Alliance, we believe educating and empowering youth is key to building a powerful, sustainable movement for Reproductive Justice in Ohio. That’s why we developed Ohio Rising—the youth programming arm of Ohio Women’s Alliance. In 2022, our Ohio Rising programs reached over 200 young folks through the Reproductive Justice Table, Reproductive Justice 101 presentations, and our annual Back-to-School drive.
The inaugural cohort of OWA’s Reproductive Justice Table. Back row: Janiah Miller, Sha’Tisha Young, Myia Rucker, Shay Bradford, Rose McClurkin, Aubrey Crabb, Amanda Frazier, Nyshia Gentry. Front row: Alexis Humphries, Jordyn Close, Sativa Banks.
Reproductive Justice Table
OWA believes young leaders are developed when they are intentionally offered wellness, mentorship, and capacity-building resources. The RJ Table is a unique opportunity for selected cohort members to skill-share and build relationships with other established and emerging leaders in Ohio.
The Goals of the Program:
Cultivate a fresh approach to protecting abortion access in Ohio to accompany and/or supplement existing efforts.
To live out our values by truly investing in young leaders and not capitalizing or co-opting the work of front-line leaders as organizational wins.
Carve out space dedicated to moving at the pace of young leaders instead of moving at the pace set by organizations.
Increase formalized support and capacity building specifically for young leaders.
Since the launch of our Reproductive Justice Table in April 2022, the inaugural cohort of 11 young Ohio leaders (aged 18-27) has been meeting monthly for formal training on collective strategy, enhancing advocacy campaigns, and increasing capacity to advance Reproductive Justice for all Ohioans. Led by Director of Membership Myia Rucker, throughout 2022, table members learned from experts from Relational Uprising, Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, Maroon Arts Group, Equality Ohio, Ohio Voice, Peaslee Neighborhood Center, along with OWA Staff and leaders throughout Ohio, who provided training on campaign management, fundraising, digital media campaigns, wellness, and more!
As their capstone project, the cohort launched a digital TikTok campaign focused on educating their peers on wellness, communal care, sexual liberation, queer love, and Reproductive Justice. Click to check out their creative content and to follow OWA on Tik Tok!
This inaugural RJ Table cohort will conclude in March, and we will welcome the next round of table members in June! The 2022-2023 RJ Table was possible thanks to funding from Women's Fund of Central Ohio, Groundswell Fund, and an anonymous donor.
Back to School Drive
Our Ohio Rising back-to-school drive keeps growing year after year! Your support of OWA helped us provide 100 little ones with backpacks and school supplies as they prepare to return to school in August. While students picked out their backpacks filled with pens, pencils, folders, notebooks, OWA staff and volunteers helped parents register to vote or update their voter registration while sharing about how they can plug into OWA programming.
Thank you to all who made this year's drive possible, especially Director of Membership Myia Rucker and our partners at Ohio Youth Development and Havenwood Townhomes!
School Presentations
In the fall, we presented to seven high school and college groups, talking to over 130 students about Ohio Women’s Alliance, how to talk to peers and family members about Reproductive Justice, and how they can get more involved in RJ advocacy in Ohio.