Organizing Strategy & Training
The Organizing Strategy & Training team spearheads two pivotal initiatives—anchoring the OurSchoolsPVD Alliance and facilitating the CYCLE Strategy Institute—providing essential skills training, coaching, and technical assistance to a diverse array of stakeholders. These include youth, young adults, parents, teachers, community members, and organizational staff dedicated to advancing educational equity within our public school system. Grounded in the values of CYCLE, our approach is rooted in community organizing principles. Community organizing is unique in that it does not rely on experts advocating for affected communities. Instead, it centers people and communities most impacted by the issues, thereby creating social change through their roles as leaders and active participants. Our support of organizers and community members often serves as a bridge that fills a gap in their organizational capacity and includes everything from helping volunteer youth leaders create and facilitate meeting agendas to months-long strategic analysis and campaign planning sessions with nonprofit leaders. The tools and support we provide help organizations secure policy solutions designed to bring about greater Democracy, Dollars, and Dignity for public education.
Current Projects
CYCLE Strategy Institute
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.
OurSchoolsPVD
Convened by CYCLE, OurSchoolsPVD (OSPVD) is an alliance of six organizations working together for education justice in the Providence Public School District (PPSD). Founded in the wake of the state takeover of PPSD, OSPVD was initially formed to ensure that the takeover would result 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.
Past Projects
Cambridge Public Schools - Building Equity Bridges
CYCLE was a partner for Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) when it embarked on a student, parent, and community driven process (Building Equity Bridges) to take action on equity issues facing CPS. CYCLE supported with technical assistance and organizing trainings for the community members involved. Building Equity Bridges was designed to grow into a sustainable collaboration between CPS, students, parents and community.
Central falls - understanding root causes of Inequities
As part of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF) Understanding Root Causes of Inequities fund, the Central Falls School District (CFSD), in partnership with CYCLE and Diversity Talks, embarked on a student, parent, and community driven process to deepen the district and community’s collective understanding of the barriers to equity facing CF schools. In particular, the project was designed to grow into a sustainable collaboration between CFSD, students, parents, and community.
Pittsburgh parent power
Pittsburgh Parent Power arose in 2014 to build the capacity of community-based organizations to support parents to lead equity-oriented school reform efforts affecting Pittsburgh Public Schools.