Bio
Lauren Wisenbarger serves as an Advocacy Strategist for the ACLU of Ohio’s Policy and Advocacy team. In her role, she oversees the recruitment and development of the Central Ohio Action Team and ACLU of Ohio’s Campus Action Teams at colleges and universities across the state.
Lauren first joined the ACLU of Ohio as a Master of Social Work (MSW) Field Placement in January 2024. During her placement, Lauren focused on voting content and programming. Her interest in civic engagement started in childhood, watching her grandparents participate in every election. The 2020 Presidential Election was her first time working at a polling location in Guernsey County. Since moving to Columbus in 2021, Lauren has worked as a Machine Judge in three elections; most recently the 2023 Special Election, greeting voters and helping them through the process to cast their ballots.
Projects she worked on include a content series to encourage college-aged voter participation and County Prosecutor Profiles for the races in Ohio’s three largest counties (Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton). These profiles, paired with a Power of Prosecutors blog, educated voters on the candidates’ stances on ACLU of Ohio priorities and the impact County Prosecutors have on local legal systems through their discretionary powers.
Leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election, Lauren designed the Voter Empowerment Program that brought voter registration and resources into five Columbus-area homeless shelters and one food pantry. This program reached over one-thousand central Ohioans and provided emergency shelters with resources that support access to the ballot box. The Voter Empowerment Program was the ACLU of Ohio’s first direct voter outreach helping those experiencing housing and food insecurity fully engage in the electoral process.
Lauren graduated with her MSW from The Ohio State University in May of 2025 and became a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) with a macro focus. Her Political Science & International Affairs undergraduate degree from Muskingum University along with her previous experience as a Housing Case Manager and Food Pantry Coordinator inspired her career in advocacy to help drive systems-level change.
In the summer of 2025, Lauren joined the Columbus Safety Collective Campaign (CSCC) where she hosted campaign events to collect signatures. She recruited and trained community members to support the CSCC’s goal of bringing a non-police emergency crisis response amendment in front of voters.
In her free time, Lauren enjoys reading mysteries and psychological thrillers, crafting and traveling to fill her National Parks Passport with cancellation stamps.
