Elizabeth Brown was elected to Columbus City Council in 2015
and holds the office of President Pro Tempore. In addition, Brown is the
Executive Director of the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network, is a member of
the Columbus Women’s Commission, and serves on the CelebrateOne Policy
Committee. She has prior experience in economic development, nonprofit service,
and state government. Brown worked as an economic development manager to the
City of Columbus, taught middle school students as a City Year Americorps
member, and has been published in New York Magazine and WOSU Public Radio.
President Pro Tem Brown’s core objective on Council is to
fight for broad-based economic prosperity that addresses both business growth
and poverty reduction. In her first year, Brown commissioned a comprehensive
study of the city’s tax incentive policies that resulted in a $15-per-hour
minimum wage for city job incentives and new affordable housing requirements
for city housing incentives. Brown introduced and passed an ordinance to
promote the hiring of disadvantaged workers by companies who bid on city
construction projects.
As Finance Committee Chair, Brown has worked to make the
city’s capital and operating budgets open and accessible by engaging with residents,
Area Commissions, and Civic Associations to solicit feedback on local budget priorities
in communities throughout Columbus. She moved capital budget hearings outside
of City Hall and into neighborhoods to make them more accessible and to focus
on local investments.
Other initiatives reflect Brown’s focus on broadening access
to opportunity and strengthening women and families. As Education Committee
Chair, Brown sponsored scholarships for kids to enroll in high-quality
pre-Kindergarten as well as career development opportunities for their
teachers. 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. 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 sponsored
a program to offer free menstrual products in Columbus recreation centers and
spearheaded a partnership to provide free menstrual products for women in
homeless shelters. She funded an initiative with Moms2B and the Community
Shelter Board to connect at-risk pregnant women with stable housing, employment
assistance, and medical care. In the face of aggressive and indiscriminant
deportation tactics against Columbus residents, Brown established the Columbus
Families Together Fund, which provides legal resources to keep immigrant and
refugee parents in Columbus with their children.
Brown and her husband Patrick Katzenmeyer live in Columbus’s
Victorian Village neighborhood, along with their 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.