OurSchoolsPVD Alliance
OUR HISTORY
OurSchoolsPVD (OSPVD) is an alliance of youth-led organizations and their allies convened by CYCLE with the goal of ensuring that state control of the Providence Public School District (PPSD) results in an educationally just and equitable system that adequately serves and centers the voices and leadership of all students and families, particularly youth and families of color, low-income people, immigrants, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Grounded in our collective work, which for decades has pushed for asset-based, youth and community-driven visions for our public schools and communities, OSPVD is excited to bring together an intergenerational alliance of grassroots organizations and allies in order to build the power we need to create the school system Providence youth and families deserve.
OUR ALLIANCE
We are an alliance of eight organizations working together for education justice in PPSD:
Youth In Action (YIA)
Young Voices (YV)
RI Center for Justice (CFJ)
Center for Youth & Community Leadership in Education (CYCLE)
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CYCLE serves as the alliance anchor organization and provides technical assistance, strategic, and back-end support to OSPVD, including being the host organization for the OSPVD staff organizers.
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OSPVD established its inaugural Youth Leaders Cohort (YLC) in 2022 through a co-creation process between OSPVD youth and adult allies. The YLC is made up of representatives from each of OSPVD’s youth organizations.
With support from OSPVD adult allies and staff, the YLC is a campaign leadership and decision-making group for OSPVD. Members meet weekly to discuss issues and actions to take.
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In addition to the youth-led and youth-serving organizations, OSPVD is actively exploring ways to engage with and involve teachers and parents in helping us create our vision for the future.
Our Guiding Values
We prioritize the leadership and voices of those who are most directly impacted by systemic racism & injustice.
We are committed to amplify and prioritize youth power and youth voices, especially youth of color, who are the most directly impacted group within our education system.
We believe in community power. Our schools are not separate from our communities.
Our Platform
Democracy: We need a say, voice, and decision-making power!
Dollars: We need adequate and equitable resources!
Dignity: We need cultures, climates, classrooms, and curriculum of respect!
This is about transformation, not just small changes. None of us can do it alone. We are more powerful when we work together.
OUR CAMPAIGN
Our History, Our Schools, Our Future: The Fight for Ethnic Studies
The Our History, Our Schools, Our Future campaign is the current ethnic studies campaign led by OurSchoolsPVD. Our SchoolsPVD chose this campaign to fight for a full-year Ethnic Studies/anti-racist curriculum in PPSD and statewide because students want classrooms that reflect their histories and communities and address systemic racism in education. The campaign seeks to make sure that every high school offers and requires a yearlong ethnic studies course that centers the histories and experiences of BIPOC and other historically marginalized groups, with students meaningfully involved in designing and evaluating the curriculum. This work builds on a long history of student organizing in Providence for Ethnic Studies and educational equity, and OSPVD sees it as a key step toward transforming schools so they better serve and empower students and communities of color.
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Following extensive research into each potential campaign, the options were presented to alliance members. After several months of deliberation, youth members chose to pursue an ETHNIC STUDIES / ANTI-RACIST CURRICULUM as OSPVD’s next fight.
Read our Statement of Solidarity with Youth & the Black Lives Matter movement
OUR FUNDERS
The work of OSPVD is made possible by the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation, and the Barr Foundation.