‘Coalition for Concerned Citizens’: Local reverend facilitates civics classes

On the evening of June 22, attendees of a civics class at the Payne Chapel AME Church in Hamilton learned about upcoming legislation, finding credible news sources, the importance of voting and partisanship and how to engage others in political conversations.

They talked about what makes discussing politics difficult and how to make it easier, as well as methods for spreading the word about legislation and voter registration.

These classes are referred to as the “Coalition for Concerned Citizens.” The Rev. Vanessa Cummings said she began facilitating them at the Hamilton church in February 2025 with the goal of educating participants on what’s going on with their government, how it works and how to become engaged.

Cummings also started facilitating meetings at the Oxford United Methodist Church in February of this year, as well as some in Middletown, which were eventually merged with the Hamilton meetings.

Soon, participation grew to over 200 rotating attendees. 

Several regulars now attend Cummings’ classes, while others have attended periodically, making up dozens of people at each meeting. Other than the host churches, the meetings in Oxford are also supported by the NAACP branch in Oxford, the League of Women Voters of Oxford and the Oxford Citizens for Peace and Justice.

Cummings said the non-partisan, public, free meetings are about “education and empowerment.” 

The name of the group, Coalition of Concerned Citizens, she said, comes from wanting to have a recognizable name for the meetings and an “active coalition” of educated people in Butler County in reference to voting, the justice system and other civic matters.

“My goal is to speak plain language that people can understand, and if they’re learning and they’re understanding it, they can help to educate others and engage others,” Cummings said. “So that’s how this all started, and it’s just grown over time.”

Cummings started bringing in speakers, including a member of the Butler County Board of Elections, a representative from the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio and both a member and a treasurer of the Talawanda Board of Education, to talk about how their organizations function and how they’re affected by legislation.

Cummings also invited the Rev. Mike Pucke of St. Julie Billiart Parish, who speaks with immigrants currently being held at the Butler County Jail and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center.

“(The classes are) generated by the interest of the people and what they want to know to get more involved and understand how the systems are operating,” Cummings said.

Cummings served on the Oxford City Council for six years, between 1994 and 2000, and was vice mayor for two of those years. She ran for state representative in 2024 and is also currently on the Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board.

She’s the vice president of the NAACP branch in Oxford, where she has previously served as both president and vice president and has been an officer for the past 30 years. She also chairs the Ohio South Ohio Conference Committee on Social Action and Community Development.

Cummings said she considers herself someone who’s been actively engaged in civics for years.

She said she thought hosting civics classes would be a good idea, as she believes people may not be engaged in voting or local politics because they don’t understand what’s happening or are unaware of legislation being passed.

“That’s the goal, is to get people more engaged, because so many people are disengaged now, they’re frustrated with the systems, they feel like it’s not representative, they feel like nobody’s listening,” Cummings said.

Voter turnout for the May 5 primary election in Butler County was nearly 22%, according to the Butler County Board of Elections. Voter registration lists show 35,785 people are registered to vote in the City of Hamilton out of 64,644 total residents, according to the latest U.S. Census in 2025. 

In the City of Oxford, 7,466 people are registered to vote out of 22,387 residents, according to the latest census, although much of the population includes non-permanent student residents.

“The more people we get engaged, the more people we get educated, the more people are going to start voting again,” Cummings said. “They’re going to start asking questions, they’re going to start going to other meetings in their communities.”

Cummings said she believes the growth in class attendance over a short period of time shows that they’re not only effective, but local people want to be engaged, to understand and to make a difference.

Ultimately, she said if there’s a “unified coalition” with a message representing a diverse group of people in the county, it could carry more political “weight.”

She said a future goal is to take interested attendees to Columbus to meet with state legislators to voice their concerns.

Meetings are hosted at 6 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month in Hamilton and on the third Thursday of each month in Oxford. Meetings are hybrid, and attendees can access them by registering for a Zoom link.

More information about the meetings can be found by calling (513) 461-2088.