Nancy Day-Achauer

Chair
Neighborhoods, Recreation, & Parks Committee

Vice Chair
Public Service & Transportation Committee

As a councilmember, Nancy Day-Achauer (pronounced “DAY-AWK-our”) looks to use her experience addressing human service needs on the West Side to work for all of Columbus, improving quality of life and access to services for residents in every corner of the city. Councilmember Day-Achauer chairs the Neighborhoods, Recreation, & Parks Committee and vice chairs the Public Service & Transportation Committee.

As chair, Day-Achauer champions the important work of the Recreation and Parks Department and has advocated for the expansion of the Center Without Walls program, which provides recreational programming to neighborhoods without community centers.

Her top policy priority is creating a strategic youth programming ecosystem to ensure young people can access quality recreational programming no matter where they live. The initiative brings providers together to collaborate, identify and fill programming gaps, reduce redundancies and improve program quality.

In 2024, she launched the Getting Grant Ready Academy, a nine-month training program that equips small nonprofits with best business practices and the skills necessary to build financial sustainability without relying on government funding.

As the wife, daughter and granddaughter of veterans, Day-Achauer is also proud to serve as City Council’s Veterans Affairs chair. She instituted the Veterans Appreciation Dinner, the Memorial Day Service at the Linden War Memorial and Saluting Women Who Serve, an event honoring female service members in partnership with the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. In recognition of her work supporting the veteran community, she received the Ohio AMVETS 2025 Civil Servant of the Year Award.

During her time as an ordained minister in Central Ohio, Day-Achauer’s involvement with local organizations and boards, including the Westland Area Commission, strengthened her commitment to community revitalization and public well-being through service and advocacy. She has particularly focused her work on helping vulnerable members of her community, including helping found programs such as Ville on the Hill and Jordan’s Crossing Resource Center to assist senior citizens and people experiencing homelessness, respectively. Her work on the boards of Homes on the Hill and the Prevention Action Alliance has also allowed her to address issues including housing affordability and the opioid epidemic.

She grew up in the small town of Nevada City, California, where her parents instilled in her a strong sense of social responsibility and exemplified active participation in the community. After high school, Day-Achauer attended night classes to earn her degree in business management while raising her child on her own and working full time. In 2005, she moved to Ohio to earn a Master of Divinity from the Methodist Theological School.

Day-Achauer and her husband, Jeff, live in Northwest Columbus with their dog, Arnie. They also have one daughter and two grandchildren.