Noelle Bowman said life has prepared her for this moment.
Bowman founded Indivisible Akron in 2024 following Donald Trump’s election to a second term as president. Her winding career path — an undergraduate degree in business, working in the medical field as an office administrator, stay-at-home mom, journalist, spin class instructor — has given her the tools, she said, to begin organizing.
Noelle Bowman, founder of the Akron chapter of Indivisible, says the group’s formation “came out of a need” after Donald Trump’s win in 2024.
“This has been something that is tapping into all of my skills,” she said.
This year the group was responsible for organizing two highly attended No Kings protests in downtown Akron, as well as helping coordinate the Hands Off! rally in Akron’s Hardesty Park.
Indivisible Akron is part of a larger whole. According to its website, Indivisible is a national umbrella organization covering thousands of local smaller, grassroots groups focused on electing progressive leaders, rebuilding democracy and defeating Trump’s agenda.
How did Indivisible Akron come about?
Noelle Bowman, founder of Indivisible Akron, talks about the last No Kings Rally while on the plaza of the John F. Seiberling Federal Building.
“It was an accident,” said Bowman.
A group of 19 gathered at the Portage Lakes library in November of last year, she said, for a meeting “under the auspices of Indivisible National called We Are Worth Fighting For, and it was in response to” Donald Trump’s win over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“It was just to talk about how we felt, to talk about what went wrong, to talk about what we could do differently,” she said. “We broke into small groups, we shared. At the end of it, everyone turned to me and said, ‘Well, what’s next?’ and I said, ‘What do you want to do next?'”
The group decided to continue meeting under Indivisible’s banner because, she said, “They had all the resources that we needed.”
Bowman said the second meeting drew 73 people, the third attracted 105. Then, the group’s first protest — the Hands Off! rally at Akron’s Hardesty Park — had a 1,500-person turnout, she said.
“We’ve just been growing and growing ever since then,” she said, “but it wasn’t something that I set out and intended to do. It was something that came out of a need.”
Why was Indivisible Akron necessary?
Noelle Bowman, founder of the Akron chapter of Indivisible, said she wants to create a comfortable environment where everyone can chip in.
Harris’ run at the presidency energized people, Bowman said. However, Harris’ loss, she said, signaled that there was necessary work to be done to fight “what was about to happen” — a president who had already packed the Supreme Court and was prepared to seize power from Congress, and “deeply, deeply divided us.”
“He’s destroying our Constitution, he’s destroying democracy and he’s destroying the First Amendment,” she said, “which is the most important freedom that we have. So, I feel like I have to fight for that.”
Bowman explained that she feels like she could’ve been more involved before, but she’s committed now to “doing more.”
Not everyone is cut out for protesting on the street. How else can people can get involved with Indivisible Akron?
Protesters gather in front of the John F. Seiberling Federal Building during the No Kings rally in Akron on Oct. 18.
Bowman said she wants to create a comfortable environment where everyone can chip in.
Phone banking, letter writing, voter outreach through postcards and canvassing are options, she said, things that can be done from home. Financial assistance is welcome, too, she said.
“Donations help us with our printing costs, our location costs, things like that,” Bowman explained, “that’s a great way (to help).”
There are less visible administrative roles that need filling, too, she said. Some members, Bowman explained, can’t be on the street waving a sign because of their job “so they help us with accounting, they help us with our website.”
Another way to protest, she said, is to boycott businesses whose values don’t align with your own. Bowman said Indivisible Akron is developing a resource to show people “how to vet companies to make sure you’re comfortable doing business with them.”
What are Indivisible Akron’s goals for 2026?
Protesters hold signs for the No Kings Day rally in downtown Akron on June 14.
First, said Bowman, Indivisible Akron wants to do more to register and educate voters, then keep them engaged.
“There are so many people who say, ‘I don’t vote because I don’t know anything. I don’t feel like I should vote because I’m not educated, I’m not informed.’ So we want to make that easy.”
Another goal is getting people involved in politics at the local level, she said, specifically as precinct captains, who serve as conduits between political parties and voters in a precinct. Bowman said Indivisible Akron is working with other organizations to educate people about this position and its importance.
Bowman said she’s signaling to national leadership that while the philosophy behind the No Kings protests is good, there needs to be a stated goal.
“We’re focusing on what we don’t want,” she said, “and we’re focusing on one person, and I think that’s ignoring a larger problem — Project 2025 and the people that are behind that — and we’re not saying what we want.”
Also in the works, she said, is the Summit Action Network, or SANe, “a coalition of progressive organizations that includes Indivisble Akron, Summit County Progressive Democrats, Akron Democracy Defenders, Akron NAACP attends our meetings; Crooked River Action is involved, Freedom BLOC is involved, Summit County Young Dems are involved.”
The coalition meets monthly and discusses what each group is doing and how they can support each other, said Bowman.
Strengthening community ties is a priority in 2026, too, she said. “It’s about continuing to do what we do with our monthly meetings, but then also we have a book club; we have an LGBTQ+ group that meets; we have sign making parties; we have a workshop that we’re going to be doing coming up about learning how to be an anti-racist — not just being not racist, but being anti-racist.”
Why is building community so important for Indivisible Akron?
Protesters cross Market Street during the No Kings rally in Akron on Oct. 18.
Something made evident by the COVID pandemic, she said, is that people begin to despair when they’re isolated.
Following the first protest Indivisible Akron organized — the Hands Off! rally in Akron’s Hardesty Park — the organization sent a survey to participants. Bowman said she was “shocked” by the results.
“The feedback that we got was, ‘I found my people,’ ‘I found joy,’ ‘I met people,’ ‘I’m not alone,’ and so when people feel like they’re not alone, it gives them hope,” she said, “and hope gets them active. It makes them want to go out and vote, it makes them want to have conversations.”
Bowman explained that without strong community support, “the fight’s harder. So every time we have a protest, it gets bigger and bigger and our base grows because we realize that we’re in this together.”
Contact reporter Derek Kreider at Dkreider@Gannett.com or 330-541-9413.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Noelle Bowman, founder of Indivisible Akron, answers 5 questions
