Cassie Gaffney

Senior Strategist

As a Senior Strategist at Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS), Cassie leads lobbying, capacity building, communication, and advocacy strategy development for ACS clients.

Cassie has more than a decade of experience advocating for organizations at the state and federal levels and building communication, electoral, and community engagement strategies throughout the country. Her expertise lies in facilitation, governance, policy and coalition building. Most recently, she served as the Director of Government Affairs at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, where she led the agency’s government relations and public policy strategies. In this role, Cassie worked to augment government funding to increase support services for survivors of sexual violence and increase prevention programming. Additionally, her efforts influenced public policies that support survivors and promote prevention and created strong linkages between the Center and community partners.

From 2012-2017, Cassie was a strategist at ACS. She began her career managing congressional campaigns and fundraising efforts throughout the state of Ohio, including serving as a spokesperson for various political candidates.

Cassie earned a Bachelor of Art in Political Science at Muskingum University and a Master of Urban Planning, Design, and Development at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs. While at Cleveland State, she was awarded the Wallace G. Teare Award in recognition of her advocacy for quality housing for low-income and elderly individuals. In November 2015, Cassie received the National Excellence in Advocacy by an Up and Coming Practitioner award at the Professional Women in Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. She currently serves on the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Grievance Committee. Cassie lives in Lakewood, Ohio, with her dog Bennie.

ACS is one of the only female- and minority-owned consulting firms in Ohio. The women-led, women-driven firm has a national reputation for its communication and strategy development expertise and deep understanding of policy and advocacy, especially for organizations in the early childhood and K-12 education sectors. Collectively, the firm has more than 75 years of experience developing and implementing strategies that help clients achieve measurable results.