Board of West End Charter School Issues Statement on John Hope, Councilwoman Has Been Critical
GoLocalProv News Team
Board of West End Charter School Issues Statement on John Hope, Councilwoman Has Been Critical
The statement was released late on Friday after a series of articles by GoLocal.
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“The Wangari Maathai Community School is working on the possibility of collaborating with the board, staff, and community members of John Hope Settlement House to open a community school. This includes addressing concerns coming from the West End community and families with deep ties to John Hope Settlement House. Like charter schools before us, we seek a temporary location to start, with a plan in place to locate a more permanent site for the school. Our proposed plan is to use only a limited portion of John Hope Settlement House with a commitment to dedicating funds towards the building. We respect and will not encroach upon all programs and services at John Hope Settlement House.
Prior to this possible opportunity, our outreach efforts centered on the South Side and Silver Lake areas of Providence because buildings in these locations appeared available for opening the school. Now that we are pursuing negotiations with John Hope Settlement House, we understand the importance of shifting our outreach to the surrounding community. We are further committed to working with members of John Hope’s community on how to best conduct and improve our current and future outreach efforts.
Most immediately, we look forward to building an active and ongoing dialogue by attending planned and future community meetings. We hope to build and strengthen our relationship with John Hope’s community.”
As GoLocal has previously reported, community members in the West End of Providence have been expressing concerns over a new charter school going into the location of the John Hope Settlement House -- and as GoLocalProv reported, circulated a petition demanding more answers from the board of John Hope.
John Hope has been for a century community organization providing services primarily to lower income residents. Over the past five years, the non-profit has been hit with multiple controversies including financial mismanagement and political infighting.
Providence City Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris said the petition -- 'The Selling Out of John Hope" -- was started after a community meeting at John Hope regarding the interest from the Wangari Maathai Community School to be housed there prompted more questions from the community about the potential arrangement.
Harris, who represents the West End including the area of the John Hope Settlement House tells GoLocal that the change is creating tension.
“The way they came down Westminster is part of what we've seen," said Harris, of Wangari Maathai eyeing John Hope for the location of its proposed charter school. "People are getting pushed out. The cost of housing, with inflation -- people can't keep up."
"[The community] made this clear at the last meeting that this is gentrification," said Harris. "They called it out by name at the meeting. It's real. This is what we are seeing."