Who Is NOAH
NOAH is a broad-based community organization working to end the systemic causes of poverty and racism in greater Cleveland, Ohio, and on the Federal level. NOAH’s membership is made up of over 15 institutions from the city of Cleveland, East Cleveland, and surrounding suburbs. NOAH is built on the belief that grassroots leaders themselves have the answers to the problems facing their communities.
NOAH has a radical focus on leadership development. Leaders run planning meetings, are the key speakers at larger public meetings, are at the front during direct actions, speak at press conferences, and run negotiations with all elected officials. Our work is based on the action/reflection model. Evaluations are held after every public action so leaders can learn from the work collectively and build stronger relationships with one another.
NOAH grew out of the merger 9 years ago of three community organizations in greater Cleveland. The organizations were successful at reforming Cleveland schools to allow the City more flexibility to appoint a CEO and make needed reforms. The campaign generated significant press and continues to be an important campaign in the organization’s history. After a full-service grocery store in a low-income community in Lorain shut down leaders successfully organized to change the lease which required the store to remain vacant and see a new grocery store open in the location which is still operating to this day. More recently, NOAH undertook an anti-predatory lending campaign that successfully got 13 local banks to sign a non-predatory lending agreement that has kept residents in their homes and guaranteed the banks would give market rate loans to local residents with standard loan terms. NOAH leadership played a crucial role testifying at the state level to win reform of that industry.