Kobe Collins: ALC ChangeMakers Podcast Interview
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Audio Only - All Participants: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to the ALC Changemakers Podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Sconyers, and today I am here with Kobe Collins. Welcome Kobe. Hello. How's it going? It's going great. So for listeners, I know Kobe through my work with the OEC. You heard Carol Kauffman's interview probably a few months back. So as a reminder, um, I'm on the board of the Ohio Environmental Council.
That is a 501c3 organization, and I'm the board president. Kobe is actually on their action fund, which is a 501c4, and Kobe will talk about what that actually means. But that's how I know Kobe, because Kobe's in the OEC family. So welcome, Kobe, tell us a bit about you and your leadership journey.
Yeah, thanks Jennifer, for having me first. It's, uh, it's an incredible opportunity to be here. It's really fun and I, I hope I don't talk too much about myself, but I'm very excited. Um. Yeah, so I'm Kobe Collins. I'm the [00:01:00] Campaign Communications Manager for the OEC and OEC Action Fund, but as you noted, I primarily focus on the action fund, which is our 501c4 nonprofit.
And, uh, you know, we, the way I kind of define this when I'm talking, you know, family or friends who really care, but maybe don't care that much, they just wanna get the short gist. I say it's the political arm of our organization, you know. Our, our motto is we are building the political power of the environmental movement in Ohio.
Um, so we, we do more of the, you know, hands-on out in the State House. We're testifying. Um, I'm, I'm the one who makes all the social media videos and emails and action alerts. We're, we're telling, you know, whether it's congress members or senate state senators or federal or, you know, all over the political spectrum, we are saying, Hey.
Go out, make the right choices for our environment, and here's what we believe these right choices are. Um, so hopefully that helped distinct, uh, the two organizations. Absolutely. Well, that's just so helpful because no, it's very insider [00:02:00] language, you know? Mm-hmm. When we say these terms, people, layman, layman, folks out there in the street don't really know what that means.
So I like to break down the jargon for people as well. Um, so Kobe, tell us how you came to the action Fund. Like what has been the journey that brought you here? Yeah, totally. So I think one way, uh, that I would summarize a huge part of my career so far, and it's only been a few years. I graduated in 2023, so I'm still very early into it, but, um, I, I've, I believe fully and wholeheartedly in nonprofits, that's a big part of who I am.
It's a big part of my family. Um, my dad leads a nonprofit in the city as well, and it's been a very cool opportunity to see him lead that and see the impact across the city. Um, and, you know. I started first at the Metro Parks. I ran social media, kind of. I was like, ah, do I like this? Do I not? You know, it was my first ever internship and decided, sure, I'll keep it going.
I, I don't mind making social media posts. It's a fun time. Ended up hopping to an arts nonprofit gateway film center, and I had a really cool opportunity just to learn [00:03:00] about the film community and the arts community. Um, and I kind of at that space, it was an awesome time. I really loved it. But I, I wanted to go back to that outdoor space, you know, whether it's environmentalism or the parks.
Um, and this OEC position opened up. I fell into it in the best of ways and, uh, just got thrown in onto a team with Emily Bacha, who's an incredible, incredible leader, though she's up at the, uh, Cuyahoga Freshwater Institute now. She was an awesome influence in joined this organization. And now I serve on the team with Karlena Wallace, um, and Jessica Miller.
And, you know, we kind of have a distinct separation where Jessica does all the C3. I do all the C four. Um, it was funny when I first started. My position was more geared to just being a support role for rapid response. You know, with, with media and comms, that is a very huge need in the political sphere, as you've seen probably this year, especially with the craziness coming out of, you know, whether it's the federal government or the, uh, environmental protections falling apart in the State House at times, it's, it's a very needed space to [00:04:00] have someone just step up in the rapid response area.
And, uh, we found very quickly that most rapid response needs fall under the C four or the political side. Mm-hmm. And so I kind of just naturally was like, man, I'm gonna kind of make this my, uh, my own little personal project here where the action fund didn't really have a presence, didn't have, uh, didn't even have an Instagram when I joined.
Um, so it's been really fun to just kind of have this formation of an organization, but still the freedom to say, let's, let's build something new with it, you know? And. Um, one small thing I'll add to one that, uh, Ari Alex, who, uh, used to be an OEC staff member, um, I met with a long time ago, um, when I was with the Metro Parks, and he laid out a few steps where he said, you know, there's some people who are builders, some people who are maintainers, and some people who are fixers.
You know, not that that encapsulates everyone, but that was just a cool thing for me early in my career. Yeah. Um, and I found that I'm, I love being a builder. I love going into a space and saying. [00:05:00] Okay. It's kind of, you know, here but not here. Mm-hmm. Let's really see this to fruition. Let's really grow it.
And it's, that's all it's been with the Action Fund in the past year and a half I've been here. It's just, man, let's try something new. Let's run hard. Let's, let's really put ourself out there. I love that. I love that. Thank you Kobe. And for listeners, so listeners, I've talked, you know, it started off in marketing and comm, so there's a lot of lingo that we like to use in this space, right?
Um, can you break down people what rappers response is, because that's, that's a term mm-hmm. We use in a very specific context, usually in campaigns and elections, or even organizing context or advocacy context. Can you explain to listeners what that is and like what that really means in terms of your job and what you do?
I'm a big practical, so I'll just give an example that I do on a weekly basis almost. Um, let's just say there's a random bill out there, right? Someone in the State House made a bill that says, I hate parks. I'm gonna destroy all parks. My job would then be, I have to tell the state that this [00:06:00] is bad. Like, we don't wanna destroy parks, right?
So we would, you know, I would go out and make a social media post. I would make a targeted action, which allows members and people who get this link. To go and tell the representative a pre-written script that we, we, they can change it, but we recommend this is what you would say to your representative to say, I love the parks.
Don't destroy these. Right. Um, and then that would typically include, you know, sometimes a press statement, sometimes uh, an email, some like a mass email blast to, uh, our membership base. Um, and then, you know, always social media. I always am just making social media posts every day. Uh, so there, there's a lot of different facets, you know, and the, the comms team at the OEC is small, but it is mighty.
And we love to pride ourselves on saying, all right, we're, we're good at everything and we're gonna get it all out at once. You know, that rapid response is hard, but it's really fun sometimes, you know, also to add to that, crisis communications is a big thing too, you know? Yeah. Something bad happens, uh, and, and.
[00:07:00] Whatever space right now, it's always on us to be like, all right, let's make sure we have the best style, the best message. Uh, we're out in a applicable time that makes sense and is relevant. Yeah. Um, while still maintaining, you know, our mission and organizational strategy and, and hitting those key pillars that we always need to focus on.
Yeah, for sure. Well, thank you for explaining that for listeners, Kobe. I mean, I think it, um, communications. We're talking about advocacy is so important, right? Mm-hmm. And it looks a little different. So for people, for example, if you work for, say you work in a congressional race mm-hmm. Communications there, um, if you're working for that candidate, um.
As a comms director, as a person who communications, um, you're the person we call is on the record. Typically, you're the one who's talking to reporters. Um, it's, it's, there's a certain structure with that and advocacy, it looks a little bit different because you typically have, there's a membership that's involved, there's stakeholders who are involved, [00:08:00] and so there's a lot in terms of.
Galvanizing those voices and yeah. Making sure that really they're out front. So, um, I just like to name it for listeners that there's a specific set of strategies you all have going at the action fund and the OEC mm-hmm. To really augment the message. And there's so much great work that you all are doing to get that message out and to do so rapidly.
Like that's the rapid response piece, right? Like, we're not, we're not in a stale era here. People, there's a lot going. So Kobe and the team are doing, doing quite a lot. Um, can you, can you just speak to, just given the times we're living in. And the multitude of challenges and the ways that, um, the action funds had to respond.
Like, how are you all adapting and how are you all just meeting this really precarious movement moment that we're all there? Yeah. One, one thing before I touch on that too, and I'll, you mentioned it that we all, we have our [00:09:00] hands in so many different spaces, you know, from land to water energy policy, which I never expected to sit through as many energy committee meetings that I have in the past year, but I love it.
It's fascinating. Um, and, and because of that, right? Like with data centers coming in at a crazy rate, you know, with, uh, the water consumption and energy consumption that they pull. And then we also, you know, talk about Columbus being one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing city in the nation right now.
Um, there is so many pieces and parts that we just have to pay attention to. Um, and to make sure I'm correctly answering your question, restate it. I just wanna make sure I'm not missing any pieces of it. Have you remember my question now, Kobe? Um, sorry. It's really how you're adapting, right? Yes. There's just a lot going on in this timeline.
We're, we're on the precipice, I think of probably multiple movement moments. Mm-hmm. And so as an advocacy organization, you know Yeah. Mommy, you, you're doing quite a bit [00:10:00] like how Yeah. How are you adapting and adjusting and from a comms perspective, you know, how are you approaching that completely? Thank you for, uh, jogging my memory there.
I think. A huge piece from the Action Fund, right? Is we, we didn't have this huge presence. We don't have this huge presence on social media that some, you know, and the OEC has been around for 56 years now. The action fund's been around for nine years, I believe, and to, to come in, and this kind of connects back to my builder aspect, right?
I came in and there weren't a lot of. And, and this isn't throwing any shade at anyone. It's just the way that it was in the past. It's coming in and, you know, let's bring something new. And I think that was a huge reason to why I was brought in onto the team is, um, the Action Fund has, has so much potential.
You know, to me, I like to say that OEC is just full of geniuses and the Action Fund can just be this powerhouse across the state, you know, saying, Hey, we're, we're gonna watch you and if you make a bad decision, we're gonna take action towards it. Right? Like, if you. [00:11:00] Make a bad decision towards the environment, we're gonna hold you accountable.
Um, and the way we're adapting a lot of these spaces, you know, is just making sure you're up with the times. That is such a simple but real thing that like, you know, I'm on our AI work group. We have to be talking about AI. We have to be talking about the efficiency that it can bring to the workplace, but also maybe the harms that it brings to the environment, right?
It's, these are conversations that nonprofits can't fall behind in on. And I think at times they do, you know, you, you can't, uh. I miss the fact that most nonprofits are hardworking individuals that are typically very capacity stricken, right? And to, to not acknowledge that would just be to say, oh, well, they can do everything, but we can't.
So we have to say, all right, where are we focusing? Where are we looking in deeper seeking depth as opposed to hitting this huge widespread, right? Let's, let's find our key pillars. Let's find the key tenets that we really need to be talking about. Just deep dive. This is who we are, this is what we are, and this is why we are.
[00:12:00] Um, you know, and then when that comes out practically, that that comes out in ways of us, you know, trying out new ad campaigns in different ways that we've never done before. This comes out in ways of, you know, merging our messaging with some of the affordability pieces that people are really, really hurting on right now.
Right? Like affordability is the message. And because it's true, people need to hear that this is not good. How do we fix it? And then something I've been really honing in on personally at the organization is going back on that, you know, we have a lot of geniuses that I work with. I am far down the ladder of the smarts in the organization, but I love to say, how do I connect these dots?
Right? We have four in-house attorneys. Now here's all these incredible thoughts they have. Here's a message that we need to really, really convey to our, our, our membership base. Let's, let's connect these dots. They don't need to be, you know, on different levels, different playing fields. There's a way to have a through line and let's find that through line.
Right? So that's how we're adapting right now, in a long term, in a, in a [00:13:00] longer explanation. Yeah. Well, I think that's helpful and like for listeners, there's a lot, there's just a lot to unpack there because. What I'm hearing you say, Kobe is communications a lot of ways. You're the through line, right?
Mm-hmm. Because there's so many things happening at the organization, and so as a part of the comms team, you know, you all are really, it's like you're, you're threading that that needle, if you will, through all the really great work that the hold the organization's doing and you're doing from the C four perspective or the advocacy perspective, um, which is so important.
I'm also hearing, um, you say, you know, like. Agility and innovation. Right? And so, um, AI. Right. You know, mentioned like, that's been a conversation. You mentioned the work group. I know there are many discussions, um, that we had as a work group about that. It's here for listeners. You know, Cheryl Contee, was on the podcast who's co-author of AI for Nonprofits, where she kind of breaks it down and gives a primer of what it means in this space.
So if you wanna learn more, go to that [00:14:00] podcast episode. Um, but it's here. And as an environmental organization, you know, there are concerns about the environmental impact. Right? Mm-hmm. So it's here. And what are we gonna do? You know, how do we regulate, et cetera, which is, which is a lot. Um, we're beginning to wind on our time a little bit.
Kobe. I'm just so curious, what's something you would want listeners to know about the Action fund? Right. They're just brand spanking new to the organization. They don't know anything, you know, about like that. Like what's something that would be really important and something that, um, they should keep their eye on that you know, that you be creating.
I, this is such a, uh, basic, maybe worn down message right now, but I think it is so relevant that your voice matters. Mm. It is just the fact that, you know, you, if you sign up for an email list. And you take an action and you tell your state representative who might not even open the email you sent, that this is how you feel about something that [00:15:00] matters.
It, it is too overlooked right now in my eyes. And I think a lot of young people that I talk to, my friends and uh, people in in similar spaces as me, just feel like they don't have a way to make their work feel, you know, applicable to the craziness of now. Um, and, and I, I just want people to know that like your voice matters.
Your vote matters. Uh, your opinion matters. Mm-hmm. And make it heard. Yeah. Go sign up for actions. Go get out and vote, go volunteer, get involved. Um, it's, it's feels small sometimes, but when there's a lot, a lot of people, again, this is just the kind of Disney movie concept, right? When there's a whole lot of us that do something, change does happen.
I'm not trying to be cheesy, but I think that that's the reality of it, right? Yeah. Um, so I would, if, if people could walk away with anything, it's just, Hey, get involved. There is so many spaces, you know, whether it's, you don't even have to be at the OEC, I love saying that. Like, go to wherever and just get involved with someone, some nonprofit, an [00:16:00] organization.
Uh, give your time, give your, your, your money, your efforts, whatever it is. There's a lot of people out there that could, that would be very appreciative of it. Mm-hmm. For sure. Well, we want you to go to the OEC. I'll just, I'll just, we do, we do. Um, but yeah, I do think there's something about getting involved and getting engaged, especially when it comes to the issues that you care about that impact you and your family and community.
Mm-hmm. And nonprofits are a way to do that really directly and see the change that you wanna see. So that's, that's what we love working with nonprofits here at ALC um, Kobe, where, where can listeners follow you and follow the action fund? Yeah, go follow the Action Fund Instagram. I need to get the followers up, but okay.
We have, uh, Instagram, Twitter, or we kind of use Twitter. We have Facebook. Um, so the action fund is the, uh, the, also the website is theoecactionfund.org. So go and check that out as well. We have some email signups for people who want to be a part of a State House rapid response team. This is essentially our most [00:17:00] engaged, most, uh, heavily, you know, involved individuals who want to hear about policy all the time, who want to get every action.
Um, they want to, you know, see what the State House is doing, even if it's bad. Uh, so if you're really interested in that space, go check out our, uh, state House Rapid Response team. And if you wanna find me, uh, I, I'm on LinkedIn, all social media platforms. But I would recommend my LinkedIn and uh, Instagram if you'd like to get connected.
Awesome. And for listeners, we will have all of those handles in the show notes. So Kobe, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. So for listeners, uh, you can find all this information on jennifersconyers.com. Until next time.
