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 six organizations working together for education justice in PPSD: Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE), Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Youth In Action (YIA), Young Voices (YV), RI Center for Justice (CFJ), and the Center for Youth & Community Leadership in Education (CYCLE). Additionally, youth leaders from OSPVD founding organizations––Providence Student Union (PSU) and the Rhode Island Urban Debate League (RIUDL)––are active participants and leaders of our work.
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.
Youth Leaders Cohort: OSPVD established its inaugural Youth Leaders Cohort in 2022 through a co-creation process between OSPVD youth and adult allies. The Youth Leaders Cohort is made up of representatives from each of OSPVD’s members. With support from OSPVD adult allies and staff, the Youth Leaders Cohort is campaign leadership and decision making group for OSPVD.
Teachers and Parents: In addition to the youth-led and youth-serving organizations listed above, 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
Following the formation of OSPVD we conducted conversations about how to move forward in securing educational justice within PPSD. We narrowed our potential campaign to four options: (1) Creating an ethnic studies program in PPSD; (2) Advocating for the creation of an elected school board; (3) Increasing taxes on the wealthiest in Rhode Island to increase public school funding; and, (4) Ending state control and takeover of PPSD by the Rhode Island Department of Education.
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.
Providence youth chose our current campaign: Our History, Our Schools, Our Future. We are fighting for Ethnic Studies in PPSD because we want to see ourselves reflected in our curriculum. We believe this is an important step towards our long-term vision.
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, and the Rhode Island Foundation.