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Founded | 1961 |
---|---|
Founder | Antonia Pantoja |
Type | Nonprofit organization |
13-2627568 [1] | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) [1] |
Purpose | To cultivate a connected world through shared experiences. [2] |
Headquarters | 1220 L St., NW Suite 701 |
Location |
|
Coordinates | 38°54′13″N77°01′45″W / 38.90353°N 77.02905°W |
Alfonso Davila [3] | |
Ronald Blackburn-Moreno [3] | |
Revenue (2020) | $291,677 [3] |
Expenses (2020) | $652,968 [3] |
Endowment | $1,428,246 [3] (2020) |
Employees (2019) | 3 [3] |
Volunteers (2019) | 9 [3] |
Website | www |
The ASPIRA Association is an American nonprofit organization whose mission is to "empower the Latino community through advocacy and the education and leadership development of its youth". [4] ASPIRA's national office is in Washington, D.C., and it has affiliates in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico. [5]
Former ASPIRA club members, or ASPIRANTES, as they are known, include ACLU's Anthony Romero, former Bronx Borough President and New York City democratic mayoral nominee Fernando Ferrer, Illinois politician Billy Ocasio and actor Jimmy Smits. [6]
ASPIRA was founded in New York City in 1961 by Dr. Antonia Pantoja to combat the exorbitant dropout rate among Puerto Rican high school youth. [7] It expanded nationally in 1968 as ASPIRA of America—today known as the ASPIRA Association.
Aspira of New York operates youth development clubs, dropout prevention initiatives and after school programs which serve more than 8,000 young people each year in the five boroughs of New York City and Nassau and Suffolk counties.
ASPIRA of New York, with the support of ASPIRA of America and the representation of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, filed a suit against the New York City Board of Education in 1972 that led to the ASPIRA Consent Decree. The decree, signed August 29, 1974, established the right of New York City public school students with limited English proficiency to receive bilingual education. [8]
ASPIRA's Pennsylvania affiliate was founded in 1969 and operates several community-based programs and five charter schools - Antonia Pantoja, Eugenio Maria De Hostos, Stetson Charter School, Aspira Bilingual Cyber Charter School and Olney Charter High School. Stetson and Olney are both Renaissance turnarounds - district schools for which the School District of Philadelphia contracts the operations to ASPIRA. [9] ASPIRA of Pennsylvania also controls a property management company, Aspira Community Enterprises, which in turn controls ACE/Dougherty LLC. [10] [11]
The schools pay ASPIRA as the charter operator set management fees and rent. In addition, the schools also loan ASPIRA money. According to an independent audit, ASPIRA owes the publicly funded schools a total of $3.3 million as of June 30, 2012. Despite this fact, the School Reform Commission (the group that controls the School District of Philadelphia) voted in May 2013 to renew the charters for Pantoja and De Hostos. [12]
During the course of their anti-union campaign at Olney, Aspira of Pennsylvania has been accused of violating the National Labor Relations Act. Specific allegations include holding unlawful interrogations of teachers, the circulation of anti-union literature, and the singling out of union supporters for pre-textual discipline. A complaint filed before the National Labor Relations Board also alleges that ASPIRA of Pennsylvania has threatened to lay off teachers "as a direct result of union organizing." [13] [14] A third complaint alleges that a discipline policy introduced in December 2013 would restrict employees abilities to communicate with one another. [15] A fourth complaint filed in January 2014 concerns a social media policy that bars workers from disparaging Aspira of Pennsylvania on social media. [16]
In August 2013, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in favor of the teachers and found that Olney's principal and assistant principals had interrogated and threatened teachers. [13] [14] Olney High School and John Stetson both returned to the School District of Philadelphia and their faculties were absorbed into the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. [17]
ASPIRA of Illinois operates three charter high schools and one charter middle school. The board of directors voted 5-4 to fire its CEO in March 2012 due to low test scores - Aspira of Illinois student test scores were lower than averages for the Chicago Public Schools for at least six years in a row. [18]
The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college students preparing to become teachers. The NEA has just under 3 million members and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The NEA had a budget of more than $341 million for the 2012–2013 fiscal year. Becky Pringle is the NEA's current president.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America. The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders.
Eugenio María de Hostos y de Bonilla, known as El Gran Ciudadano de las Américas, was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, novelist, and Puerto Rican independence advocate.
Antonia Pantoja, was a Puerto Rican educator, social worker, feminist, civil rights leader and the founder of ASPIRA, the Puerto Rican Forum, Boricua College and Producir. In 1996, she was the first Puerto Rican woman to receive the American Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the fourth-largest school district in the United States, after New York, Los Angeles, and Miami-Dade County. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported overseeing 638 schools, including 476 elementary schools and 162 high schools; of which 513 were district-run, 115 were charter schools, 9 were contract schools and 1 was a SAFE school. The district serves 340,658 students. Chicago Public School students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter, magnet, and selective enrollment schools.
Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a member of the AFL–CIO. She is the former president of the United Federation of Teachers.
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200,000 students.
Aída M. Álvarez is a Puerto Rican businesswoman, journalist and politician. She previously served as the 20th Administrator of the Small Business Administration under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Álvarez was the first Hispanic and Latino American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Logan is a neighborhood in the upper North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The majority of the neighborhood falls within the 19141 zip code, but some of it falls within 19140. The neighborhood is sometimes confused with the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia. Olney Avenue extends from both the Olney and Logan neighborhoods of the city. The Olney Transportation Center is located in Logan.
Thomas Alva Edison High School and John C. Fareira Skills Center is a high school serving grades 9-12 on 151 West Luzerne Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 40.0122°N 75.1291°W) and is part of the School District of Philadelphia.
Brendan Francis Boyle is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing a district in the Philadelphia area since 2015. Since January 2023, he has served as Ranking Member of United States House Committee on the Budget. He represented the 13th district from 2015 to 2019, serving much of northeast Philadelphia and most of suburban Montgomery County. Since 2019, he has represented the 2nd district, which includes the northeastern fourth of Philadelphia. Boyle represented the 170th district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015.
Maria Quiñones-Sánchez is an American politician and political activist who served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council representing the 7th district. The district includes the neighborhoods of Castor Gardens, Fairhill, Feltonville, Frankford, Harrowgate, Hunting Park, Juniata, Kensington, Oxford Circle and Wissinoming. A registered Democrat, she served in this position from 2008 to 2022.
Youth Connection Charter School (YCCS) is a charter school in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1997 it is the only charter school in Illinois that targets dropouts and other at-risk students. YCCS serves over 3,500 students through 17 campuses throughout Chicago.
The Olney Charter High School, formerly the Aspira Charter School at Olney, and Olney High School, is a public high school that is located in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rebecca S. "Becky" Pringle is an American teacher and trade union leader. She is the president of the 3 million-member National Education Association, the largest professional employee organization and labor union in the United States.
Omar Aquino is an American politician serving as a member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 2nd district. A Democrat, he was elected in the March 2016 Democratic primary and appointed to the seat effective July 1, 2016, following the retirement of William Delgado. Sworn into office at age 29, he is the youngest-ever Latino member of the Illinois State Senate and one of the youngest state senators in Illinois history. Previously, he served as an aide to Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth.
The Chicago Teachers Federation was a teachers union in Chicago Illinois that was founded in 1897. It is considered a predecessor of today's Chicago Teachers Union.
From 1968 to 2012 at least 839 teacher strikes have occurred in the US. 740 of these have been in Pennsylvania. Teacher strikes and walkouts have since increased in popularity outside of Pennsylvania due to the Red for Ed movement in 2018-19.