A new coalition is pitching Cleveland City Hall on a wide-reaching policy platform that includes city-backed grocery stores, a homeless bill of rights and participatory budgeting. 

The Cleveland Power Alliance pitches its platform as a way to spread political power and wealth more fairly. The coalition is advancing its ideas just as Mayor Justin Bibb and many City Council members ask voters to reelect them. 

The group is made up of organizations that have lobbied city leaders on issues over the years. Now they have united around a platform focused on tenants, food, mental health crisis response, immigrant rights and other topics. The alliance announced its platform Monday at a news conference on City Hall’s front steps and published its list of policy asks on its website. 

The coalition is not endorsing candidates, said Erika Anthony, the director of Cleveland VOTES and a leading member of the coalition. As a collection of nonprofits, it can’t. But the coalition wants to work with elected leaders to put the ideas into practice through policies, laws and the city’s budget.

“The words written on a piece of paper do no good to the residents of the city of Cleveland,” Anthony said. “We are highly encouraging our mayor and his administration as well as members of City Council to work with us.” 

Translated city documents, independent ward redistricting

The alliance includes representatives from more than a dozen nonprofits and other groups in Cleveland, including the local branch of the NAACP, Policy Matters Ohio, Freedom BLOC and the Young Latino Network. 

Among the coalition’s ideas are:

• Resident-owned food cooperatives and grocery stores supported by the city
• Requiring all city documents to be translated into languages commonly spoken in Cleveland
• An independent redistricting commission for drawing ward maps
• Giving residents a direct say in how the city spends at least $500,000

An earlier push to try participatory budgeting ran into opposition from City Council. Voters in 2023 narrowly rejected a participatory budgeting charter amendment that would have given residents a more direct say over $14 million.

Tanisha’s Law, homeless bill of rights

On the City Hall steps, coalition members displayed a banner of Tanisha Anderson. The 37-year-old woman died in 2014 after being restrained by police who were responding to a mental health crisis call. A grand jury declined to indict the officers. 

The coalition is pushing for City Council and the Bibb administration to take up legislation dubbed Tanisha’s Law. The measure would create a Department of Community Crisis Response to oversee unarmed mental health workers who respond to certain calls in lieu of police. Three council members introduced the legislation last year, but it has not been brought up for a hearing or vote. 

Anderson’s uncle, Michael Anderson, described the law as being about “everything that shouldn’t have happened to her” on the day she died. 

“Tanisha Anderson should not be on a poster,” she said. “She should still be living her life.” 

A homeless bill of rights would “protect the dignity, safety and basic human rights of people experiencing homelessness,” the platform says. That includes making sure hotels do not turn away homeless customers, said Josiah Quarles, the director of outreach and advocacy for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

Quarles said that the federal government has “no concern” for people’s rights and liberties, and that City Hall should step in. 

“We call on our government, the city government, along with citizens and community members, to protect those rights going forward,” he said. 

Signal Cleveland is working with Cleveland VOTES on a separate initiative, a series of election-related neighborhood meetings. Cleveland Documenters took notes at a Cleveland Power Alliance event called The People’s Solutions Lab.