Brunner Brings Message of Support to Valley

“Start at the root” was the message brought by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on her Thursday, February 18 visit with Mahoning Organizing Collaborative.

The intimate, hour-long session held at Centenary United Methodist Church brought the Senate hopeful face to face with community leaders and residents of the Mahoning Valley to discuss the issues facing the area.  Among the topics discussed were health care, vacant properties and jobs. Brunner lent some insight into her views on the issues as well as praise for MVOC’s efforts, providing reassurance that the collaborative efforts of the community leaders are on the right track to effect change in the Valley.

Community leaders, such as Pastor Michael Harrison and Patti Dougan, directly questioned Brunner on her plans in dealing with the unique needs of the Mahoning Valley should she be elected to a Senate seat.  After listening to the passionate words of each leader, Brunner provided some hopeful and complimentary feedback.

“What you have here is very aggressive grassroots campaigning, and it is a group I value very highly,” said Brunner. “I see a future here.”

Brunner went on to comment on the importance of collaboration and bringing people together to ask questions and address issues.

“What you have here are very specific problems, and the change is not going to happen overnight,” said Brunner.
“With changes, you have to start small and learn to do it very well,” she added, stressing the importance of taking each issue step by step.  She provided the example of identifying an anchor business in a targeted area, building partnerships from that central location, taking what is learned from that process and reapplying it in other areas again and again.

“There aren’t too many silver bullets, what it takes is people rolling up their sleeves and working together,” said Brunner.

Not only did Brunner take questions from the audience, she also spoke of her own interest in making government and government leadership responsible.  She focused on removing big interests and big money from political campaigning.

“When we take big money out of politics and do the things you’re doing, we’ll be able to elect people who understand…it is about serving,” said Brunner.  She added that our legislators and other government officials must remain vigilant about his or her responsibilities within the areas they serve.

MVOC has invited all the candidates for U.S. Senate for similar meetings and anticipates this event will be the first in a series.