Gayle Channing Tenenbaum
We are deeply saddened by the news that revolutionary advocate Gayle Channing Tenenbaum passed away earlier this week. Gayle was an unstoppable force in the world of child advocacy for more than 50 years.
Without Gayle, AOF would not exist. One of AOF’s founders, John Corlett, now President and Executive Director of the Center for Community Solutions, recounted the story of how Gayle assembled a team that became AOF’s predecessor coalition:
“In 2003, Gayle was the leading force in bringing together a group of Have a Heart Ohio members to being an Emergency Campaign to Protect Ohio’s Future in order to persuade the Ohio General Assembly that tax increases were needed to forestall painful budget cuts. The initial committee consisted of AARP Ohio, the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio, the Center for Community Solutions (called the Federation for Community Planning back then), and the Public Children’s Services Agencies of Ohio and raised somewhere around $200,000. Gayle and I co-chaired the Emergency Campaign. The campaign did voter research through focus groups and statewide polling, media outreach, legislative outreach, and a statewide lobby day and rally that attracted over 5,000 people to the statehouse. “
In 2010, the Campaign to Protect Ohio’s Future became Advocates for Ohio’s Future. Twenty years later, Gayle’s strong focus on lifting up children and families is a central tenet of our advocacy, and will continue to be for many years to come.
AOF joins our fellow advocates in mourning this loss of a once-in-a-lifetime advocate, leader, and friend. Gayle leaves a legacy of thousands of families and children touched, advocates mentored, and lives changed.