Elizabeth
Brown was elected in November of 2015 to Columbus City Council. In addition to
serving on Council, Brown is the part-time executive director of the Ohio
Women’s Public Policy Network and has prior experience in economic development,
nonprofit service, and state government. Brown served as an economic
development manager to the City of Columbus, worked with middle school students
to improve literacy as a City Year Americorps member, and has been published in
New York Magazine and National Public Radio affiliate WOSU.
Brown’s focus on Columbus City Council is to fight for broad-based economic
prosperity that addresses both business growth and poverty reduction. In her
first year on council, Brown commissioned a comprehensive study of the city’s
use of tax incentives, which resulted in an overhaul of city policies and an
historic new benefit to affordable housing. Brown successfully pushed to
include a $15-per-hour wage floor for the city’s jobs incentives as a part of
the changes.
Other
initiatives reflect Brown’s focus on broadening access to opportunity and
strengthening women and families. In response to a spike in vandalism and
police calls to reproductive health clinics, she passed a law to prevent
harassment of workers and patients. Brown led the implementation of a paid
family leave policy for city employees – the first of its kind in the Midwest
and the third nationally. Brown introduced and passed an ordinance to promote
the hiring of disadvantaged workers by companies who bid on city construction
projects. In the face of aggressive and indiscriminant deportation tactics
targeting Columbus residents, Brown established the Columbus Families Together
Fund to provide resources and legal services to help keep immigrant and refugee
parents in Columbus with their children.
Brown
and her husband Patrick Katzenmeyer are active members of the community.
Katzenmeyer owns two local restaurants and serves on the board of Wild Goose
Creative, an arts organization. They live in Columbus’s Victorian Village
neighborhood, along with their two children Carolyn and Russell.
Originally
born in the Berwick neighborhood of Columbus, Brown was raised in Granville,
Ohio, and is a proud public school graduate. Brown is a magna cum laude
graduate of Columbia University where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in
English.