What is csi?
The CYCLE Strategy Institute (CSI) blends skills training, knowledge sharing, and group discussion to help organizers develop a solid practical and theoretical foundation for becoming successful in building sustainable, grassroots power to win progressive change and foster educational equity in our public schools.
WHAT IS THE FOCUS of csi?
Beginning in 2024, we are making significant enhancements to CSI based on the feedback we gathered from former CSI participants and our own analysis of the biggest problems facing public education.
1) Rather than covering the broad topic of “educational equity”, CSI's primary focus going forward will be on equitable funding—securing the dollars our schools deserve and ensuring those funds are allocated where they are needed the most. We know that equitable school funding is almost always a component of our work, whether we're waging campaigns explicitly about dollars or not. Our interviews with past CSI participants reinforced our belief that this should be the central focus of CSI.
2) We will meet as a group at least once a month over the long term—years, not months—to build lasting relationships among participants and CYCLE staff. This is a significant shift from past CSIs, which ran for shorter periods of time and had fewer opportunities for participants to engage with each other.
Participants will collaborate with CYCLE staff to co-create each session’s agenda and training focus, ensuring that they meet the evolving needs and preferences of each organization. We have a variety of training modules to bring to the table, and can tailor our tools to your existing work to enhance your campaigns around equitable finance, or help you bring that focus into your work in a more intentional and explicit way.
WHAT TOOLS & RESOURCES DO WE USE?
CSI draws upon:
CYCLE staff’s own experience, which spans more than 30 years and includes:
Organizing with organizations and networks in California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
Anchoring the OurSchoolsPVD alliance
Engaging community members through our Schools & Communities Organizing for Racial Equity (SCORE) program
Convening the New England Youth Organizing Network
Participating in FCYO’s Organizing to Win Lab, and more!
Power Tools: A Manual for Organizations Fighting for Justice (out of print).
Publications by researchers and practitioners in the field, including the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California, The Forge Organizing, Convergence Magazine, and the Grassroots Power Project.
The participation of CSI members during sessions and after, through evaluations and interviews.
We have utilized a variety of specific tools, but past participants consistently name several favorites: the Strategic Power Analysis, for landscape mapping and campaign planning; the Triangle Analysis, for troubleshooting outreach efforts; and the Science of Numbers, for turnout predictions and outreach troubleshooting. For a longer list of topics and tools, please visit our Topics page.
CSI is made possible by the generous support of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, the Edward W. Hazen Foundation, and the Barr Foundation