The Background
On January 20th, 2016 students and adult allies rallied outside the Providence School Department around the slogan #OurHistoryMatters. Students from Providence Student Union (PSU) and other organizations urged district administrators to create a full-credit course where students could analyze history from multiple angles and learn about their histories.
PSU’s advocacy and partnership with the Providence Public School Department led to the piloting of Ethnic Studies in 5 high schools during the 2016-2017 school year. The courses focused on engaging students in personally relevant discussions, activities, and hands-on projects. In the Fall of 2016, students formed the Ethnic Studies Task Force.
The Goals
Currently we are working towards the initial and current ethnic studies Goals which are:
- Increasing teachers of color
- Teachers specialized in Ethnic Studies
- Making Ethnic Studies a required course not only in high school but also in elementary and middle school
- Integrating more culturally relative content in other classes such as STEM and Humanities
- Community members teaching community history in the classroom
The Conference
The National Ethnic Studies Conference is led by The National Association for Ethnic Studies (NAES) which has a history dating back to the early 1970s. Through their work they have been able to create the National Association of Interdisciplinary Studies for Native American, Black, Chicano, Puerto Rican and Asian Americans. The Association aims to serve as a forum for promoting research, study, curriculum design, and publication.
We were accepted and asked to lead a workshop titled “Ethnic Studies in Providence Schools: A Push Towards Healing” In the workshop we plan to share our journey of implementing Ethnic Studies into Providence, and gather resources from our audience of professors, activists, community members and students alike!
The Ask
Our goal is to raise $3,000 which will pay to send six people to the National Conference, five youth and our adult chaperone. The $3,000 will cover our round trip flight, lodging arrangements, food, and the cost of attending the conference.
Please consider making a contribution to help make this experience possible for us.
Thank you so much!
