Odessa Kelly
Odessa Kelly is a Nashville Tennessee activist. Odessa Kelly is an organizer with Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, an interfaith group in the city and a member of the coalition Stand Up Nashville.[1]
Odessa is a native of Nashville, she attended Stratford High School and upon graduation in 2000 she went to Tennessee State University where she received her degree in Business Administration. Odessa also holds a Masters degree in Public Service from Cumberland University. Before becoming the executive director of Stand Up Nashville, she built her career in the public sector being a civil servant for Parks & Recreation for 14 years, leading at Napier Community Center.
Odessa was recently named as the 2019 national Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Award recipient for her trailblazing work across this country. She was also one of the six 2019 National Courage Award recipients, Nashville Scenes 2018 Activist of the Year and also awarded the 2018 Human Rights Rising Advocate award. Yet, her most proudest accomplishment is giving voice and power to those who have been disregarded and told they were less than their entire lives.[2]
She is closely affiliated with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Education
- Studied Public administration at Cumberland University
- Studied Business Administration at Tennessee State University
- Went to Stratford Comp High School
Progressive Turnout Project
In 2022 Odessa Kelly was supported by Progressive Turnout Project.
Collective PAC
Odessa Kelly was endorsed by the Collective PAC in 2022.
Stand Up Nashville
Stand Up Nashville leaders
- Charlane Oliver Equity Alliance
- Michael Callahan-Kapoor Organizing Director
- Odessa Kelly Executive Director
- Rev. W. Antoni Sinkfield board member and member of (Nashville Organized for Action and Hope
- Brian Lohsl board member and member of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
- Mike Hodge board member and member of (Nashville Organized for Action and Hope
- Anne Barnett Board Chair and member of Central Labor Council of Middle TN
- Maura-Lee Albert Board Secretary and member of SEIU Local 205
- Jason Freeman board member and member of Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee[3]
Justice Democrats
In 2022 Justice Democrats endorsed candidates were Kina Collins, Rana Abdelhamid, Summer Lee, Odessa Kelly, Jessica Cisneros, Greg Casar.[4]
Brand New Congress
The Brand New Congress challenger slate for 2022 was John Fetterman, Odessa Kelly, Greg Casar, Maxwell Frost, Becca Balint, Michelle Vallejo.[5]
Congressional run
In 2022 Odessa Kelly stood against Jim Cooper in TN-5.
Odessa was born and raised in Nashville. She grew up on the East Side in a community struggling with poverty, substance abuse, and gun violence because of political neglect and policy failure. With guidance from her family and mentors, Odessa followed in the footsteps of her father as a civil servant. She worked in Nashville’s Parks and Recreation department leading the Napier Community Center for more than a decade. Odessa now has two kids and lives in Inglewood as the co-founder and Executive Director of Stand Up Nashville. She is a member of the historic Mount Zion Baptist Church.
After nearly 14 years as a civil servant, Odessa had seen how young people at her community center were racially profiled by the police, how gentrification hurt residents with the deepest ties to the community, and how current leadership failed to deliver for the people who needed it most. Knowing she could do more for her community beyond her work at the community center, Odessa co-founded Stand Up Nashville in 2016 and took on big fights for racial and economic justice. When city officials gave the richest man in Nashville $275 million to build a soccer stadium, Odessa fought for a legally binding agreement that would return investment to the communities most heavily impacted by the stadium, ensuring 20% of all housing built at the development site would be Affordable and Workforce Housing, stadium workers would be hired directly and paid $15.50 an hour, and sliding-scale child care facilities would be provided.
In 2019, Odessa received the National Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Award for her work fighting for justice for working people, housing justice, and racial equity. She was also a National Courage Award recipient, Nashville Scenes 2018 Activist of the Year, and was awarded the Human Rights Rising Advocate award in 2018.
As she built her life and career in Nashville, Odessa saw the ways in which the system had failed her as a working class, gay Black woman and her community. Odessa saw real estate developers profiting off gentrification push her neighbors out of the communities they had spent their entire lives in. She saw firsthand that the dream of shared prosperity they were promised was no longer within reach. Odessa graduated from Tennessee State University, earned her Masters degree in Public Service at Cumberland University, and was working to the bone — but the system still wasn’t working for her or her community.
While the Nashville metropolitan area continues to become more progressive and representative, our federal representation is lacking. Seeing loved ones forced to make decisions out of desperation drove Odessa to take a leap of faith by running for Congress. The system was rigged against her, but Odessa fought to make magic out of her circumstances — not just for herself, but for her community. When our elected representatives take money from the same corporations they’re supposed to hold accountable, working class and middle class families fall behind.[6]
COVID-19 Town Hall
Austin Sauerbrei-Brown April 27 2020·
When it comes to addressing #COVID19, we need things like paid sick leave, emergency rent relief, mandatory PPE, and access to testing to move forward. But our local government’s hands are tied. We need to Gov. Lee to use his emergency powers to free up our local officials to support working families!
Join us TONIGHT at 7pm EST for a virtual Town Hall highlighting how we can empower our local leaders to address COVID-19 and support working families. We'll hear from local elected officials, workers and organizers on the front lines.
Speakers include:
- Lee Harris - Shelby County Mayor
- Odessa Kelly - Stand Up Nashville
- Amelia Parker - Knoxville City Council
- Feroza Freeland - A Better Balance
- Jazmin Ramirez - Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
- Becca Stevens and Francisco Garcia - St. Augustine's Chapel
- Kelly Waller & Stephanie Isaacs - Bedford County Listening Project
Hosted by Stand Up Nashville, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, United Campus Workers Tennessee Justice Center, Workers Interfaith Network (Memphis, TN), A Better Balance, 2019 City Council Movement - Knoxville, NOAH - Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, Central Labor Council of Nashville & Middle TN, Wendland Cook Program in Religion and Justice, SEIU Local 205, Memphis for All, Chattanooga Area Central Labor Council, Central Labor Council of Memphis & West TN.
Leadership
Stand Up Nashville Co-Chairs Odessa Kelly & Anne Barnett.[7]
Nashville Justice League
Nashville Justice League November 5 019 ·
Celebrating a big night for Justice at Metro Council with the election of Tequila Johnson and Anthony Davis to the Industrial Development Board and Freda Player to the Metro School Board!
— with Odessa Kelly and Pratik Dash.
Lumumba with FRSO comrades
Anne Barnett, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Odessa Kelly, Vonda McDaniel
Union Pride
Anne Barnett June 24, 2017:
- UnionPRIDE #1u #1uPride #unionsiblings #standtall — with Kim Sansom, Odessa Kelly, Marie Campbell and Heather Denise Wynne.
Memphis Solidarity Brigade
The Memphis district of Freedom Road brought together cadre from around the nation to support a local organizing effort, Memphis For All, to apply our line and strategy to local elections. The Path to Power Memphis for all Solidarity Brigade took place in mid-July 2018 to culminate with an early voting canvassing effort.
Thomas Wayne Walker May 29 2018:
yo!!! i'm excited to invite y'all to sign up for a program focused on learning, on-the-ground, about building political power as leftists, revolutionaries and radicals in working class communities of color that are left out & shut out of politics. the path to power memphis solidarity brigade will combine training & actual field work in support of justice organizations engaging in electoral work to build power, like memphis for all, labor unions, and more.
it's listed as wednesday 7/18-sunday 7/22, but the real programming is focused on thursday 7/19-saturday 7/21. housing and food are supported, and other support is available. i'm hoping especially to get folks from tennessee to do it, so we can start really thinking about building a #tennesseeforall. hit me up if you're interested, apply now to get in on this.
Thomas Wayne Walker, Jyoti Gupta, Lindsey Glenn Krinks, Whitney Washington, Briana Perry, Anna Carella, Ramon J. Ryan, David Alex Hayes, Elizabeth Stanfield, Dana Smith, Anne Barnett Josh Adams, Ashley Caldwell, Erica Renee, Deja Foster Justin A. Davis Justin Jones, Sj Payne, Salma Mirza, Jasmine Wallace, Nancy Dung Nguyen, Chris Brooks, Haley Greenwell, Odessa Kelly. Aaron Gamal, Cazembe Jackson, Eliott Geary. Frank W. Johnson, John Emery, Allie Cohn, Calvin Cheung-Miaw.
Working People's Town Hall
Vonda McDaniel October 26 2018:
- laborvotes2018 — attending Working People's Town Hall and March to the Polls with Michael Callahan-Kapoor, Anne Barnett, Aj Starling, Odessa Kelly, Erick Huth and AFGE Local 2400 at Casa Azafran.
References
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- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/StandUpNashville/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARBLcRKRSOz_PwkAPBV0JjjclgDjHg7mzpkKb2uVJ_wHx5nD5LG5zEtCqNp2Qjz3sm5UHGJRmeNon9xs&hc_ref=ARQ8gNnDlUM1Wn6k2i_kwbHFI3OnzAp6sUFM7Ahl3r26gl2BqOYT9ILcVELy6Wr2EPw&__xts__[0]=68.ARB4Fcqygl_QHU2qS1yifHpIvu-r-cMh-9SiPo-jj9luxT8mbougZW9RoCFdpmXu0G80rRCMT1waigwEs1Jfh1MlhBjaXe4Hbh92ZctBqT3rPk2QG9hxQnt-T9hIaw0_4pP63RBinFXWfQh8KO21VkTwP62B7reGvG2NR60edax4H-UVGKAJ3Cglr5hemf6LORfbeBhQnGOlG4KgVOfbwUydpFmWdjQkFies-Maaemfv2DEln6VO638F4A2R6qRna09hd4qIrMSU7j9exIonrYIaWos9IjAGItvViMLNn07w-M6B6_MrSaaqnqorXu0uPZB9od072QQZL3TxOZ4KAhYl4JS95yXtPqs]