Resources and Trainings

US Senators:

• Bernie Moreno (R) 
  801 W Superior Ave., STE 1400

Cleveland, OH 44113

(216) 522-7272

• Jon Husted (R)  

SR-198 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 224-3353

US House of Representatives:

• Emilia Strong Sykes (D)
  121 South Main Street, Suite 107

Akron, OH 44308

(330) 400-5350

• David P. Joyce (R)  

449 S Meridian St #138

Ravenna, OH 44266
    (330) 357-4139

Ohio State House of Representatives:

• Heidi Workman - District 72

77 S. High St. - 11th Flr

Columbus, OH 43215

614-466-2004

• Steve Demetriou - District 35

77 S. High St. - 12th Flr

Columbus, OH 43215

615-644-5088

Ohio Senator:

• Kristina Roegner - District 27

1 Capitol Square, #142

Columbus, Ohio 43215

(614) 466-4823

• League of Women Voters (Kent) https://my.lwv.org/ohio/kent 

• League of Women Voters (Northern Portage) https://www.northernportagecountylwv.org/

• NAACP - Portage County Unit https://portagecountynaacp.org/ 

• Portage County Action Council of the ACLU https://www.acluohio.org/action-team 

Melekte Melaku mmelaku@acluohio.org  

• Indivisible  https://indivisible.org 

• AFL-CIO https://www.ohioaflcio.org/ 

• Great Lake Erie Southern Shore Bioregion (An eco-network reimagining community care) http://glessbioregion.net/

• Portage County Republican Party https://www.portagegop.com/ 

• Portage County Democratic Party https://www.portagedems.org/ 

• Aurora for Change  (Closed Facebook Group)

Building relationships around shared values and making inroads with unlikely allies creates the infrastructure needed to defeat risks of violence and authoritarianism. These tools from Over Zero are designed to help leaders expand and deepen trusting relationships: 

• Community Resilience Mapping: Identify key partners for building resilience to violence

• Community Risk and Resilience Assessment: Identify sources of risk and resilience in your community to lay the groundwork for effective response efforts

• Building a Resiliency Network Toolkit: Build local "resiliency networks" to prevent and respond to violence (a full guide) 

• Case Studies in Preventing and Resisting Identity-Based Violence: Learn from global case studies about how leaders steer their communities away from division and violence  

RESPONSE TOOLS from Over Zero

There are also times when we need to directly counter and respond to harm, while taking as many precautions to mitigate risk as possible. Below are guides to strategically speaking out against violence and restoring norms of peace and civility: 

• Guide to Rapid Response Communications: Introduction to rapid response communication principles and protocols for responding to instances of identity-based or political violence

• Dos and Don’ts for Communicating in Response to Violence: Guidance for leaders on how to skillfully denounce violence and promote positive actions, while avoiding common downfalls

• Specific messaging guidance for different scenarios, including messages you can adapt to your context:

  • Scapegoating for Political Ends

    • Scapegoating of Immigrant Communities

    • Scapegoating of the LGBTQ Community 

  • Violence at a Protest or Event

  • Civil Unrest

  • Violence Against a Politician/Candidate

  • Extremist Activity 

Books:

Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection

Deepa Iyer · 2022 

To engage in social change at this moment in time requires consistent attention, deep reflection, and committed collective action. We are living in a period of overlapping social, economic, and environmental crises, accompanied by failures in public systems and institutions. It's not surprising, then, that when we attempt to engage in social change efforts, many of us feel like we are on a seesaw, swinging from outrage to overwhelm. For those who are just beginning their social change journeys to those who are weary and disillusioned, how can we effectively anchor our commitments to equity, solidarity, and justice?

Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything 

Becky Bond, ‎Zack Exley · 2016

Bond and Exley, digital iconoclasts who have been reshaping the way politics is practiced in America for two decades, have identified twenty-two rules of “Big Organizing” that can be used to drive social change movements of any kind. And they tell the inside story of one of the most amazing grassroots political campaigns ever run. Fast-paced, provocative, and profound, Rules for Revolutionaries stands as a liberating challenge to the low expectations and small thinking that dominates too many advocacy, non-profit, and campaigning organizations—and points the way forward to a future where political revolution is truly possible.

This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the 21st Century

Mark Engler, ‎Paul Engler · 2016

Although it continues to prove its importance in political life, the strategic use of nonviolent action is poorly understood. Nonviolence is usually studied as a philosophy or moral code, rather than as a method of political conflict, disruption, and escalation. This is an Uprising corrects this oversight. It argues that if we are always taken by surprise by dramatic outbreaks of revolt, and if we decline to incorporate them into our view of how societies progress, then we pass up the chance to fully grasp a critical phenomenon and to harness its power to create lasting change.

CISA Securing Public Gatherings

Public gatherings, also referred to as mass gatherings, are places where people gather freely together in a particular location for a specific purpose and are often associated with large crowds. These include places like music festivals, sporting events, places of worship, restaurants, and shopping centers.

• Mass Gathering Security Planning Tool User Guide (pdf)

• Mass Gathering Security Planning Tool Fact Sheet (pdf)

CISA Resilience Where We Worship: Keeping Faith Based Communities Safe

• The Six Steps to Enhance Security Against Targeted Violence

• The Houses of Worship Security Assessment

• Perimeter Security Considerations Infographic

• Power of Hello Houses of Worship Guide and the accompanying De-Escalation Series tools

• Bomb Threat Management

• Mitigating Attacks on Houses of Worship Security Guide

• Paper-Based Houses of Worship Security Self-Assessment and User Guide

Signal (Free Encrypted Messaging App)

• How to Use Signal Encrypted Messaging

Defusing Resources from Over Zero

By preparing for likely risks, engaging trusted messengers, and counteracting dangerous narratives, we can defuse threats with the longer goal of running out the clock. Here are some tools in service of those goals:

• Scenario Planning Worksheet: Guide to anticipating and planning for risks of violence that may occur in communities

• Six Things Faith Leaders Can Do Amid Heightened Tensions: Guidance for faith leaders to defuse tensions and empower communities to take pro-democracy actions

• Ten Ways Veterans Can be Advocates for Peace During Contentious Times: Guidance for veterans on promoting peace and democracy as trusted messengers in our communities

• Partner Engagement for High Risk Events: Guidance for state and local leaders on how to prepare for and defuse risks at potentially contentious events

CISA De-escalation Series

This series describes activities and behaviors that may be concerning or indicative of impending violence:

• Recognize the warning signs for someone on a path to violence (PDF)

• Assess the situation to protect personal safety and the safety of those around you (PDF)

• De-escalate the situation currently taking place if safe to do so (PDF)

• Report the situation using your policies and procedures (PDF)

CISA De-escalation Resources

• De-escalation Action Guide (PDF)

• VIDEO Violence Prevention through De-escalation (YouTube 13:25)

• Pathway to Violence (PDF)

• VIDEO Pathway to Violence (YouTube 11:23)

5D's of Bystander Intervention

• DISTRACT (YouTube 1:23)

• DELEGATE (YouTube 1:17)

• DOCUMENT (YouTube 1:21)

• DELAY (YouTube 1:19)

• DIRECT (YouTube 1:22)