June 30, 2025

Good Works Columbus: June 30, 2025

Hi gang! Welcome to Good Works Columbus, a newsletter featuring tiny actions you can take to make our city a better place. A couple new actions this week you can do online or from your phone.

Like what you’re reading? Be sure to subscribe to get weekly updates. If you want to give more support, an upgraded subscription is appreciated.

Things you can do in person

• Labor 101 Training
  July 24th 6-7:30pm

  

• 2025 Rain Barrel Giveaway and Workshop Lottery

  Thank you for your interest in participating in the 2025 Rain Barrel Giveaway and Workshop with Keep Columbus Beautiful and Coca-Cola Consolidated on Saturday, July 12th, 2025. Supplies are extremely limited and participants will be selected through a lottery system. After completing this form, participants will be notified if they have been selected via email. Only one registration and barrel per household will be granted (please note, you are able to send in someone on your behalf to pick-up if you are unable to personally do so). If you have any questions, please reach out to keepcolumbusbeautiful@columbus.gov 

• Save the Date: All Aboard Ohio Annual Meeting
  July, 12th, 2025
  Join us for All Aboard Ohio’s 2025 Annual Meeting as we look ahead to Ohio’s Future: Built by Rail. This engaging, forward-looking event will bring together transportation advocates, civic leaders, and community members to explore the opportunities and momentum shaping Ohio’s passenger rail landscape.

Things you can do online

• URGENT: Protect Access to Library Materials - Ask Governor to Veto Harmful Policy

  We’re reaching out with an urgent request to stand with Ohio libraries in protecting free and open access to information for all members of our community.

  A new law passed in the state budget (House Bill 96) today includes a harmful, expensive and unnecessary requirement that public libraries move any materials related to sexual orientation or gender identity to areas not primarily visible to anyone under 18.

  https://www.columbuslibrary.org/keep-the-plf/ - Zoning Feedback

  Phase 2 for the Columbus zoning update is beginning and the city is looking for feedback.

  https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/677901a325f04aaabe516dd84c44aa46 - COTA New Line Feedback
  Can’t make the feedback meeting in person? Take this online survey to share your opinion. - Organizing for Local Action
  July 23rd, 2025
  Tired of your representatives backing corporate lobbies over your community? Ever felt like you’ve done a bunch of marching, but it didn’t quite yield the results you were hoping for? This workshop on strategic organizing will give you some of the fundamental tools you need to build community power for the mid- and long-term.

  After the workshop, you will be able to 1) discern the difference between advocacy and organizing, 2) understand the importance of building lasting power to create change, 3) know how to identify winnable campaigns and decide on strategies, and 4) develop a long-haul strategy to win campaigns. This ONLINE workshop should run between 1 - 1.5 hours and will be highly interactive. Depending on interest, an intensive hands-on workshop will be held at a later date at the Columbus Garden School. Budget-friendly workshop fee $5-20; no one turned away for lack of funds. (Just drop us a note. Our website platform doesn't allow us to mix-n-match free vs. paid events.) - Franklin County Public Needs Survey
  Franklin County, Ohio is in the process of preparing the 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, 2025 Annual Action Plan, and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing. (This is a good chance to provide feedback on affordable and social housing!) The Consolidated Plan governs the activities to be funded with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding, including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME investment Partnerships Program (HOME), and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) dollars for the next five years. Franklin County receives an annual allocation of CDBG, HOME, and ESG dollars as a qualified entitlement community and these funds are used to meet priority housing and community development needs in the community. The Consolidated Plan will serve as a blueprint for the expenditures of federal funds in the County from April 1, 2025, through March 30, 2031.

  Franklin County Survey

• Access Ohio 2050 Transportation Survey
  Access Ohio 2050 is the Ohio's long-range, multi-modal transportation plan, developed by the Ohio Department of Transportation, that will guide the state’s transportation policies and investments for the next 25 years.

  Complete the survey and share your support for expanding passenger rail and multimodal transportation across Ohio. Your feedback will help guide the state’s transportation priorities. Shout out to All Aboard Ohio for their work promoting this and encouraging expansion of multimodal transportation.

Other Stuff

Things I’m reading/watching:

• Inside the Ohio State University response to the 2024 pro-Palestine protests from Matter News
• AI Slop from Last Week Tonight

Have a great day everyone and see you next week!

Thanks for reading Good Works Columbus! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. If you are able to, please consider upgrading to a pay what you want subscription.