We believing in inviting parents to be civic leaders. Our role is to equip them with the leadership skills of relationship building, public speaking, critical thinking, strategic planning, and motivation of others. In this way, we promote social and structural change through community organizing. Our leaders are agents of hope who act on issues to improve their communities. We are demonstrating that positive transformative change is possible through leadership development and successful action campaigns.

Every other Tuesday evening, parent leaders run a community meeting with up to 40 parents from various Boston Public Schools. During these meetings, parents choose and execute campaigns to improve learning conditions across the district. Parents hold leadership roles in the meetings, including setting the agenda and facilitating it, making turnout calls, coordinating dinner, and taking notes. We always have Spanish translation, dinner, and childcare.

We have made concrete gains toward safe and healthy schools and communities. We won a statewide ballot question to protect funding for public schools. We led a city-wide campaign in which the Boston City Council unanimously passed a resolution affirming Sanctuary Schools to protect immigrant and undocumented students and families. We won an additional $16.4M in state and local funding for public schools. Currently, we are collaborating with the Pilot Action Group to hold Boston city government and large nonprofit institutions accountable for millions of dollars in unpaid PILOT contributions that could be benefiting our communities through equitable investment in education, employment, and housing in Boston.

All are welcome. To get involved, contact liz@ssypboston.org