Stephen JohnsonGrove, strategy director

stephen<at>ohtransformationfund<dot>org  •  513-549-1764

Stephen JohnsonGrove helps cultivate the field of advocates focused on dismantling and transforming the criminal punishment system in Ohio. Before OTF, he was an attorney and deputy director with the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC) for 14 years. His advocacy work culminated in being part of the Ohio statewide Issue 1 campaign leadership in 2018. He helped create Fair Hiring policies for public-sector employment in 13 cities and counties, and then all of Ohio state government. He helped draft and lead the advocacy effort for several more pieces of state legislation that removed legal barriers for job seekers with criminal records. He also spent time running OJPC’s Cincinnati-based outreach legal clinics serving people with criminal records. Stephen is still a practicing lawyer and lives in Cincinnati with his family. He is also the board treasurer for the National Network of Justice, a membership-led organization established to support and strengthen local and state-based organizations working to dismantle and transform the criminal-punishment system.