Prentiss Haney is a civil rights leader who is nationally recognized for successfully implementing democracy, civic engagement and racial justice advocacy programs in Ohio and across the Midwest region. Through his leadership, he brought in over $35 million into the Midwest for social justice causes and has achieved historic campaign wins, including the passage of Issue 24 in Cleveland, the strongest police oversight board in the country, defended direct democracy in Ohio, and won $23 million for the childcare industry in Franklin County, Ohio.

Prentiss Haney previously served as the Co-Executive Director of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, where he led its democracy, economic justice, and criminal justice work. He is a veteran community organizer and strategist whose work has been featured in media outlets, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and MSNBC. In 2019, Prentiss stepped into leadership at the OOC after previously serving as the Executive Director of the Ohio Student Association.

Prentiss started organizing with Organizing for America, registering students and building campus teams across the state and then joined the Ohio Student Association to continue building student power. Prentiss has trained thousands of leaders in grassroots organizing, leading racial justice, criminal justice, and higher education campaigns across the state. In 2017, he co-founded the Midwest Culture Lab as an urgent political intervention needed to center and support young artists of color as trusted communicators, organizers, and cultural strategists with the intent of increasing youth civic participation during elections.

He is a 2022 recipient of the Open Society Foundation’s Justice Rising Award and the 2024 Brennan Legacy Award for his work on criminal justice reform and democracy reform. Prentiss currently is acting as a senior advisor for the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the Ohio Transformation Fund. He currently serves as the Board Chair of the State Power Action Fund.