Ruther “Onah” Ossai

Onah Ossai started organizing with us when she answered her door to talk to a PA Stands Up canvasser in 2019. She has been a canvasser, a chapter organizer, and our Issue Campaigns Coordinator before being promoted to Regional Organizing Manager. As the child of a Nigerian immigrant, she knows how our immigration system can tear families apart. She has also been affected deeply by the US carceral system having witnessed her own father spend a significant portion of her childhood in prison and seen how the long term effects of the PIC can irreversibly alter family dynamics and stability. And as a working class single mother, Onah knows how important it is for everyday people to come together across differences to fight for policy that supports all of us. She has used her attention to detail, facilitation skills, humor and accountability to successfully coordinate our multi-county ballot initiatives to end solitary confinement, as well as our Whole Home Repairs campaign.