On Saturday, June 2nd, over 50 clean energy advocates from across Ohio traveled to Columbus for a training day organized by Sierra Club’s Ready For 100 Campaign Team. Representatives from nearly 25 communities throughout Ohio and West Virginia committed to a full day of speakers, training, dialogue and resources to engage Mayors and City Council Members to commit to 100% clean energy. This successful event was highly energetic and action-packed from beginning to end.
This event was the vision of Sierra Club Activist Cathy Cowan Becker who is currently leading the Columbus Ready For 100 Campaign. While Ohio currently has active Ready For 100 Campaigns in Cleveland and Columbus, volunteers in other communities across the state – from Cincinnati to Athens and beyond – also participated and plan to start new local campaigns. This interest led to the development of an Ohio Ready For 100 Campaign Team, which included support by National Ready For 100 Leadership and representatives of The Climate Reality Project.
The agenda kicked off with greetings and event purpose by Dave Simons - Ohio Chapter Energy Co-Chair, Mac Crawford – Climate Reality Project and Cathy Cowan Becker. The keynote speaker was Mike Foley, the Sustainability Director of Cuyahoga County, who opened the training with a motivating message and call to action and the largest county in the state of Ohio. Foley is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives and shared great insight on the need for a strong unified team in Ohio.
Laura Comer, National Ready For 100 Distributed Organizer was next on the agenda and provided an excellent orientation to the national campaign for the attendees. All participants were introduced to the organizational structure, training calendar, resources and campaign support from Laura’s enthusiastic and interactive presentation. This doubled as a working session with participants, who were divided into two tracks on How to Run a Campaign. The first track was for new campaigns who need to Build a Team and Develop a Community Vision; the second track was for people who are part of existing campaigns who put their heads together for Planning a Strategic Campaign: Determining the Milestone and Strategy to Get There. Facilitators for the break out sessions were Laura Comer and Field Organizers Emily Gorman from Florida and Olufemi Lewis from North Carolina.
After a delicious lunch and networking session, panelists representing three key Ohio communities shared presentations on clean energy efforts in their communities. Panel Members included:
Bryan Burgess, President of Oberlin City Council
Michael Forrester, Energy Manager for the City of Cincinnati
Erika Meschkat, Sustainability Manager for the City of Cleveland
Stephanie Steinbrecher, National Ready For 100 Media Coordinator provided a riveting presentation on public narratives and the importance of having a communications plan.
The training wrapped up with everyone participating in a dialogue “Clean and Affordable Energy to Create More Livable Communities for All” with co-facilitators Jocelyn Travis\Stephanie Steinbrecher and Chad Stephens\Laura Comer. The discussion focused on the need for an equitable and just transition to 100% clean energy.
The training ended with 5 new Ready For 100 Campaign teams formed in Ohio with several more pending! Excitement was in the air as everyone departed Columbus ready to get to work! We’ll keep you posted!