Cleveland VOTES Selects 2026-27 Democracy Collective Cohort
The members of the 2026-27 Democracy Collective (DemCo) cohort have been chosen. Their names are listed below:
ADRIANA VIANA
ANTOINE ROBINSON
BEN JAKUBOWSKI
BILL JOHNSON
CHRISTINE LATTIEMORE-WHEELER
DAQUAVION ROSTON
INDIRA SAMUELS
JABRIL SHABAZZ
JALA FULTON
KELLY DITURNO
KENN WATT
Over the next nine months, they will be invited to reflect deeply on their role as social change agents in Cleveland, including on the unique assets and commitments each participant brings. Sessions will include topics such as: advocacy skills and strategies such as power mapping, target research, one-to-one’s, storytelling, and power-building.
Throughout the program, our facilitator will offer best practices and models, prompt participants to reflect and develop their own strategies, and create spaces for feedback and reflection to strengthen those strategies. These exercises will serve as building blocks for the activation projects the participants will develop and implement in the last three months of the program. A critical component of DemCo is relationship building, as well as group alignment and individual leadership development. There will also be opportunities to connect with local democracy-building movement leaders and gain deeper understanding, which will complement the curriculum.
Each participant will be asked to identify an issue area to focus on throughout the incubator. Examples of issue areas may include: education, environmental justice, healthcare, housing, infant mortality, and more. The issue area must be specific to a challenge we’re facing in Cleveland. After completing 6 months of curriculum-based learning, each participant will be asked to identify an activation project. The goal of the activation project is to take what they've learned and apply it to an issue in our community.
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