Center For Progressive Leadership

2008 Ohio New Leaders
For recent graduates and young people seeking full time work

Kelan Craig

Hometown: Columbus, OH

Age: 26

School: Ohio State University - Columbus

Interests:

Placement: Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO)

Kelan Craig has been with the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio since August 2006 and now serves as an associate working with COHHIO’s state and federal advocacy team and with the Ohio Federal Budget Coalition. Kelan’s passion is being an advocate for basic social services like shelter, housing, nutrition and healthcare. Prior to his arrival at COHHIO, he worked as a housing specialist at Freedom House, a homeless veteran's shelter in Portage County, and as a Community Development Intern with the Portage County Regional Planning Commission. He also completed two years of AmeriCorps service working closely with individuals served by the Portage County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Kelan received a dual degree in Political Science and Economics from Kent State University and is now in his final quarter of a dual Master’s degree program in City & Regional Planning and Public Policy & Management at Ohio State University.

"I am determined to develop both personally and professionally in order to advance progressive values in my community and beyond"

- Kelan Craig,
2008 New Leaders Fellow

More about Kelan

What particular experience has contributed to your desire to intern with a progressive organization and participate in the NLP? What do you hope to gain this summer from participating?
As a community development intern with the Portage County Regional Planning Commission (PCRPC), I had an opportunity to accompany the commission staff on a variety of trips to an area of the county that had long been neglected by elected officials of old. Ranked among the top 3 worst rural ghettos in the nation in the 1970’s by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the McElrath Park neighborhood in the City of Ravenna has been playing a perpetual game of “catch-up” with its counterparts in other cities and counties. Trash lined the streets, grass and shrubbery was left uncut, dilapidated buildings were found on every corner and drug deals were still made regularly. The PCRPC had been trying for a decade to rectify failed efforts to revitalize the neighborhood and finally ensure that electricity and trash pick-up were available to all occupied parcels and that abandoned parcels were not neglected for long periods of time. As an intern, I was able to research articles written in the 70’s and articles written as improvements were made over the decades hence. It was my feeling that work remained to be done. My experience learning about McElrath led me to pursue other opportunities serving my community as an AmeriCorps member for two years working with adults with developmental disabilities and mental retardation, and to join the staff of a homeless veterans’ shelter in Portage County. Since autumn of 2006, I have pursued a dual master’s degree in City & Regional Planning and Public Policy and Management while working at the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. I have had the great fortune to work at an organization with a mission of serving the poor and working to ensure that all Ohioans have access to quality affordable housing. My previous and current work experiences, accompanied by my education, have prepared me for leadership. I am very interested in gaining more expertise and training that will help me become a leader in the progressive community. The most appealing aspect of the New Leaders Program is the long-term mentorship and continual training that will occur beyond the one-week training program in Washington D.C. I am determined to develop both personally and professionally in order to advance progressive values in my community and beyond.

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