History

In November 2017, CYCLE launched as part of Roger Williams University (RWU) in downtown Providence, RI at the University College campus, building upon nearly 25 years of educational justice, research, and school reform support work previously housed at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR) at Brown University. Prior to starting CYCLE, the seven founding staff members worked for AISR’s New England-based Community Organizing & Engagement and District & Systems Transformation programs.

With deep ties to the fields of education and community organizing locally, regionally, and nationally, CYCLE was established in a university-based environment with a clear commitment to an innovative mix of field-based technical assistance, participatory learning and knowledge generation, and applied research. Expressing his excitement about the new venture, the late RWU President Donald J. Farish said, “I believe merging the two teams from Brown’s Annenberg Institute into a single initiative at RWU – and then coupling it with RWU’s ongoing commitment to create access to higher education for traditionally underserved populations – will create synergies that will dramatically increase both the size and the effectiveness of our programs that support underserved populations. That outcome will serve not just the individual students themselves but also the communities from which they come – and ultimately the state as a whole.”

In 2018, CYCLE was awarded three new grants — from the Central Falls School District, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and the Bay and Paul Foundations — all focused on supporting communities and school districts to more deeply understand the root causes of inequities in order drive improvement in their school systems. These awards helped to solidify CYCLE’s presence as a valuable new partner for the field.

CYCLE continued to grow and evolve. During the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic CYCLE’s energy went to into supporting partners in the context of the pandemic, rethinking programs to be responsive to new modes of work, and ensuring the protection of the team’s health and safety. CYCLE grew from 8 full-time staff to 12, and restructured to distribute leadership across program areas. New exciting partnerships and projects, like Schools & Communities Organizing for Racial Equity (SCORE) and the OurSchoolsPVD Alliance, continued to keep CYCLE grounded in the day-to-day realities of building collective power and fighting for educational justice. While some of CYCLE’s signature programming, like the New England Youth Organizing Network (NEYON) Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) and CYCLE Strategy Institute (CSI), changed and adapted over time.

In 2022, as a result of a strategic planning process, CYCLE refreshed its mission, vision, and set of values. The staff further clarified how the approach to the work CYCLE does is grounded in a belief in the theory, practice, and power of community organizing. And, CYCLE set its focus on three key strategic priorities to support and deepen its role in the broader fight for educational justice.