This is the sixth in a weekly series on my DC sabbatical (Sep 1 → Nov 30, 2026). Catch up on earlier posts if you missed them, and join my mailing list for future posts.
Over the weekend I went for a 7 mile run while calling my dad on the phone. His one job was to call me out if I started huffing and puffing, since the goal was to stay at a conversational pace. He took the assignment seriously, and I am happy to report that I mostly passed.
That run capped off a good week for my exercise routine. My wrist has finally healed enough for me to start lifting again at the RPA office gym, and I have settled into a frequent 4 mile route on the Metropolitan Branch Trail, a gem on my side of DC. I even joined my friend Alex for 14 miles as she trains for a marathon, and I am starting to wonder if it is time to start another cycle myself (yes, I’m crazy).
I have also found my local coffee shop, Coffee Bar, which has coffee at Cincinnati prices (thank goodness) and great indoor and outdoor seating. Most of my coffee still gets made at home for about a dollar a cup, but it is a nice change of scenery. If anyone at Coffee Bar is reading this, please start a loyalty program.
Most of my heads-down time this week went into editing the AAO plan and the national plan, getting both close to ready for funding and leadership asks. Along the way, I landed on a reframing that has changed how I talk about all of it. I now think about statewide advocacy organizations on four levels:
Level 0: Not existing. There might be active nonprofit status and an officer or two, but no events and no activism.
Level 1: Active, but struggling with effectiveness. A proper board is in place, but there is little engagement with the press, young people, civic leaders, or the statehouse.
Level 2: Active and effective, but mostly volunteer powered. Grassroots supporters, elected officials, businesses, and the media are all engaged. But staff and fundraising are limited, and the whole thing risks imploding if volunteers burn out.
Level 3: A full-scale activist organization. Strong fundraising, paid staff, an advisory board, and an active volunteer corps working alongside the staff, with no succession risk.
All Aboard Ohio is at Level 2 today. The AAO plan is how we get to Level 3. The national plan is about helping a network of state organizations reach at least Level 2, and eventually Level 3. That makes the funding ask two-fold: money to get AAO to Level 3, and money to build the network up to Level 2. Then AAO’s path to Level 3 becomes the blueprint for every other state’s next step.
I started one morning with a call with Beth Russell, our communications director, covering our upcoming letter writing campaign and Giving Tuesday. Her team continues to knock it out of the park. Later I caught up with Hayden Clarkin and Nicole Crone, and was reminded how lucky I am to have such a supportive group of friends cheering me on.
That night I introduced Felix to bourbon whiskey, and we played more cribbage. As of this writing the record stands at 2-1 Felix, but I have a feeling a comeback is brewing.
I was also back on Capitol Hill to meet with Jamari Hartley in Senator Husted’s office. With members home in their districts until after the election, the Capitol grounds were a ghost town, which meant we had time for proper introductions and a substantive conversation.
Afterward I treated myself to a bulgogi cheesesteak at the Family Dinette, a place I do not think has changed in 50 years. For budgetary reasons, it is back to the turkey sandwich shelf in the RPA fridge.
I also got some time with Jim Mathews, RPA’s CEO, who is back in DC after weeks on the road. The energy Jim puts into this movement inspires me, and the office conversations that come with squatting at RPA HQ are a huge perk.
Later that afternoon we had a spectacular call about breathing new life into AAO’s Toledo chapter. Sean Kidd, our new chapter co-lead who I met at RailNation, and Northwest Ohio Director Sally Fish joined our grassroots rockstars Nate Halm and Alaina Hawthorn to map out the rest of 2026 and the start of 2027. I love this team!! It also gave me great material for the chapter planning section of the recipe book, the plug-and-play toolkit we want other states to use.
That night I went to the monthly DC transportation staffers happy hour, an informal gathering of 20 and 30 somethings who work on the Hill, in advocacy, in lobbying, and at think tanks. In short, it was heaven for me, and I am already looking forward to next month’s.
One meeting I had been anticipating for weeks was a one-on-one with Beth Osborne, CEO of Smart Growth America, one of the leading national organizations working toward sustainable communities with real transportation choices. Beth walked me through her career, from the Hill to advocacy to campaigns. We talked about organizational health, fundraising, and the tradeoff every leader eventually faces, spending more time on administration and less on the work that drew them in. Beth is a treasure, and I look forward to continuing the conversation.
Later that day, I finally finished the AAO architecture plan, next steps and all. It is going out to the board now, and we will start formalizing it at our board meeting this Wednesday. I am really proud of this one, and it has already sparked excitement with board members Lisa Buffo, Riley Gilson, and Jameson Locklear.
The national plan keeps getting a warm reception too. I had a great call with Anthony Lanzilotti, an RPA board member and a leader of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, about his work in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and how he is helping a passionate advocate in Kentucky restart their state organization. Next, I am hoping to get feedback from advocates in North Carolina.
Friday was a special adventure. I took the MARC train to Baltimore, $9 each way and under an hour, for a tour of Jerome Horne’s hometown (we first got coffee back in week two). Man did he deliver. From 9am to 9pm, we took in Baltimore’s architecture, urban planning, transit, and culture, with great food and drinks along the way. I came home a Baltimore enthusiast – my Cincy friends Ryan and Ben who spent summers there were not kidding when they said the city rocks.
At our monthly statewide meeting, Kirby Dearth, who manages GoBus for the Ohio Department of Transportation, knocked his presentation out of the park, and attendees came ready with ideas for new routes. I also got some good time with my other roommates, David and Jacob, who I am leaning on to learn more about engineering and project financing.
And the first AAO podcast episode is live! Ryan Pecaut and I recorded it with James Flattum back in week three, talking through Colorado advocacy and how closely it mirrors Ohio. Give it a listen here.
On the reading side, I finished The Book of Longings, which I still recommend, though it is not my favorite of Sue Monk Kidd’s books. I am now halfway through The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, which is all about locking in on the present instead of getting distracted by the past or the future. When I manage that focus, my anxiety gets a lot quieter. I am also a third of the way into Railroaded by Richard White, a thick history of the corruption and antics behind the transcontinental railroads that is sparking lots of ideas about our strategy. It does hurt that we cannot just hand senators $100k in discounted stock like the Union Pacific crowd did back in the day, but that is probably a societal win.
Against the three goals from my first post, this was a week of steady progress on the critical path. Personally, the routine is finally clicking, and I have friends here and back home cheering me on.
For All Aboard Ohio, the architecture plan is in the board’s hands, and it is comforting to have a tangible plan written out on where to go next.
For the national network, the levels framework gives me a much clearer way to explain what we are asking for and why. The next step is turning these written plans into asks for funding and leadership blessing.
Next up is our board meeting this Wednesday, October 14, followed by TransportationCamp in New York with Hayden on October 24. Further out, I am speaking at the High Speed Rail Alliance conference in Chicago on November 13, and Carter Lavin joins our statewide meeting on November 14. Here’s to continuing to level up!