Y.O.U. Communications Specialist honored by Cleveland Jewish News

When we launched the 12 Under 36: Members of the Tribe awards five years ago, our goal was to identify and honor young professionals who represent the next generation of Jewish leaders in Northeast Ohio. We wanted to celebrate those demonstrating their drive toward advancing the vibrant local Jewish community, and by extension, the future of the region they call home.

I’m delighted to introduce you to these young leaders among us. Please join me in recognizing their care and contributions for the community we all share.

2022 Class of 12 Under 36: Members of the Tribe

Allie Levin, communications specialist, Youth Opportunities Unlimited

Portrait on Allie Levin

From the sets of Marvel films produced on the streets of Cleveland, to Hollywood and back, Allie Levin finds telling the stories of young Cleveland residents more meaningful than her work in commercial film.

Levin, a communications specialist at Youth Opportunities Unlimited in Cleveland, said she enjoys working with teens and young adults to help them find their place in the world.

“We talk a lot about barriers,” Levin, 30, said. “Our participants, our clients have multiple barriers that make it difficult for them to reach that economic self-sufficiency or find that job. A lot of times it revolves around having a caring adult to support them in that journey, or transportation access. So we’re really trying to provide as much as possible so that they can seek out what they want to pursue.”

After studying film at Ohio University in Athens in a major she designed, Levin headed to Los Angeles where she produced television commercials.

“I reached a point where I was quite successful producing commercials for the Latinx market here in the U.S.,” Levin said. “I was running those shoots and I just had to make a choice. I had reached this place I thought was the top and I wasn’t very happy. So I decided that I wanted to tell stories that had more impact.”

Levin returned to Cleveland in an ambulance that she bought, intending to turn that vehicle into a home in order to do seasonal agricultural work. When the vehicle’s turbo broke and she didn’t have the skills to repair it, she sold the ambulance.

“I looked around me and everyone in my life was in nonprofits,” she said. “It’s like my eyes turned on for the first time. I reoriented here. I met my partner here. And they were teaching here even though they’re not from Cleveland, and so it ended up working out really well.”

At Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Levin said she has had a chance to deepen her understanding of the community through conversations with alumni of the 40-year-old organization.

“I’ve gotten to learn so much about Northeast Ohio history and why our society is set up the way it is,” she said.

In addition, in the past year, she has helped launch Greater Cleveland Career Consortium as a social media consultant.

Born in Cleveland and raised in Shaker Heights, Levin is the daughter of Daniel M. and Nancy S. Levin. She attended Camp Wise in Claridon Township and celebrated her bat mitzvah at Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights and Pepper Pike and now attends services at Beth El Congregation in Akron. She graduated from Shaker Heights High School, then earned her bachelor of specialized studies degree at Ohio University in film, English, media and graphic design. She has a nonprofit graduate certificate from Cleveland State University.

Levin has volunteered as a delegation participant, photographer and organizer for the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, which does work in the Hebron Hills around issues of justice for Palestinians. She has also organized with IfNotNow, an American group aiming to sway the perspective of American Jews on Palestinian and Israeli issues, she said.

She said it was after studying agriculture in Israel and getting a permaculture certificate in 2014 that something was sparked in her.

“My spirituality is completely around justice work for Palestine,” she said. “And that’s a huge part of my life.”

August 25, 2022