Nirva LaFortune emerged on Rhode Island’s political scene in 2017. That’s when she won a special election to represent Ward 3 on the East Side on the Providence City Council. LaFortune brought a new perspective and she was the first Haitian-American to win political office in Rhode Island. Five years later, in 2022, LaFortune placed third while running for mayor of Providence. She now serves as executive director of City Year Providence, a nonprofit that recruits young adults for a year of service in the Providence schools. Last year, 24 City Year Providence Americorps members served full-time in six city schools, reaching thousands of students. This week on Political Roundtable, I’m going in-depth with executive director of City Year Providence, Nirva LaFortune.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to The Public’s Radio.
Nirva LaFortune: Thank you, Ian, for having me here today.
Donnis: For people who are unfamiliar with City Year Providence, how would you explain what it is and what it does?
LaFortune: City Year has been in Rhode Island for 31 years now. And City Year was designed as a project program that was focused on service. So we used to be called the Urban Peace Corps, but what we used to do was our corps members would be in the community doing civic work fixing up playgrounds, engaging with community organizations, making a real contribution. Now, since No Child Left Behind, City Year decided that they have to shift. If they want to create more equitable and thriving communities, they have to invest in education. So our corps members are now in our schools serving as student success coaches, where they provide a holistic, high impact tutoring through our program with this whole school, whole child, because we believe if we want thriving schools, we also need to ensure that our students are thriving and you can’t just do one without the other.
Donnis: Let me ask you about that. What are the top challenges faced by the students served by your corps members? And how did the corps members help those young people overcome those challenges?
LaFortune: Well, some of the top challenges is limited resources, right? Most of the schools that, all of the schools actually that City Year supports or works in, in partnership with the school and the administrators are schools in under-resourced communities. And so the challenges a lot of times include the lack of capacity. So our corps members are in the schools working in partnership with the teachers. They’re serving students in terms of providing high impact tutoring in ELA and math. They’re also helping students develop critical social emotional learning skills, and coaching them in attendance. The other challenge at times is also the lack of diversity in the teaching industry and what our corps members also do is provide that near to peer mentorship in which students are seeing young people who reflect the communities that they come from. Last year a majority of our corps members came from Providence. They were Providence graduates, and many of them shared that they’re serving because they were served by a City Year Corps member and that inspired them to want to serve in the schools.
Donnis: And that’s true of you as well.
LaFortune: You knew this. So, yeah, so I was part of a program called the Young Heroes Program that was, that was started in 1995. And during that time, I was trying to figure out who I was as a person, as a young person trying to find my own community, a sense of belonging and having a corps member serve as my mentor. But more importantly, being a part of a program that empowered me and let me know that I had a voice to truly transform my community was quite impactful. Who would have known that this immigrant kid later on would run for office, get a graduate degree in education policy, and now serve as the executive director in the same organization that once served her.
Donnis: Indeed. And you were the first member of your family to go to college. You told me when we talked a couple of years ago that you had a really positive experience in the Providence schools, that people there helped to spark your motivation and your love of learning. But we’ve seen how Providence students have under-performed for a long time, by and large, and there’s been a lack of progress over that time. What do you, what needs to be done differently to make more improvement in the Providence schools?
LaFortune: Well, when I was in school, the population of students looks slightly different. Since my time many, many years ago, we’ve seen an influx of multi-language learners. We’re seeing a rise in poverty throughout the state, throughout the community. And so what City Year does is they help narrow those achievement gaps. We just implemented a training for our corps members to make them more effective in working with multi-language learners. We’re also providing a year of learning and development for them. And so in order for us to solve some of the educational challenges. We need to bring organizations together, like City Year, and other nonprofits, our corporate partners, government officials, stakeholders, and City Year has a model that does that. In Tulsa, Sacramento, as well as Milwaukee, they implemented the Network for School Improvement, which scales our program, our whole school, whole child. And what it does, it brings people together to talk about solutions, to share best practices, but also commit to actions that they’re going to take to transform our schools. I mean, Horace Mann said it — ‘education is the great equalizer.’ And so if we want to create thriving communities, if we want to ensure that our young people have a pathway to success, we need to invest in our schools and we need to invest in our students.
Donnis: You were one of three people who ran for mayor of Providence in 2022. You didn’t win. Brett Smiley won. How would you assess the job that he’s doing?
LaFortune: Thank you for reminding me that I didn’t win. Being a leader, being a mayor is quite difficult and we’re also living in a city that has many challenges. We have a significant pension liability. We’re seeing a rise in taxes and residential taxes. And we’re seeing limited resources. What I hope the mayor can do is leverage some of the stakeholders that are in the city, but also leverage community members and community based organizations to help them come up with solutions to address some of the challenges that we’re facing. And so this is what, year two for him? It takes time to really find your footing. But what I do hope is that he can commit to education and investing in our students if he really wants to make a significant impact and leave a legacy in which the city can build on and continue and to thrive.
Donnis: You served on the Providence City Council before running for mayor. What are your observations in terms of what the council is doing well, what needs improvement in terms of its approach to key city issues?
LaFortune: My focus this past one year, eight months, has been City Year and advocating for City Year, advocating for our students, advocating for our schools, and that’s the work that I wanna continue to do. What I hope that I can do also is work with City Council on solutions to address our educational challenges. One of our city council members, Justin Roias, is a City Year Corps member, and he served right here with City Year Providence. And so, we see a pipeline of leaders that are developed through City Year, and what I hope that I can continue to do is work with them, share some of our best practices, but also continue to advocate for investments in education and in our young people.
Donnis: Could you see yourself running again for political office, or are you done with that?
LaFortune: Ian, you have to let me rest. Running for office is not easy, particularly for women, for people who have families. You’re not running by yourself. Your whole family is running. And so what I hope right now is I get to take a rest. But I also find a lot of power and also excitement and inspiration in the work that I’m doing today. One, I feel empowered because I get to make a difference in my community. I also get to create a pipeline of leaders and work with an amazing team and corps members who are doing this work. And so what I’m doing right now brings me joy. It’s inspiring. It keeps me going every day. And most importantly, I know that I’m making a significant contribution to my city, to my state. And I also get to help young people see their potential and also help them see that they are empowered to make a difference in our community. One of our corps values in City Year is the belief in the power of young people and also service to a cause greater than self. So those two things are young people empowering them and seeing the power that they hold, but also having a shared vision and working towards a cause that is far greater than one individual person, a mayor, a governor, but for the community, for our state, I think for me is, is quite empowering. And I want to continue to do this work.
Donnis: I know your focus has been city year, but there’s intense interest in the outcome of the presidential race. A lot of reeling on the part of Democrats. You’re a Democrat. Where do you think the party went wrong in trying to take on Donald Trump?
LaFortune: I am a Democrat but I also understand the importance of working alongside, excuse me working across lines of differences. And so while the outcome is not necessarily what I wanted or many people that I may know, it’s really important for all of us to figure out how to work collaboratively to ensure that our community and the people in our community needs are met. And I think this is an opportunity for our state and local leaders to work together to create systems and infrastructures that will sustain whatever is to come.
Donnis: You were three when your family came from Haiti to Rhode Island. I’m sure you’re dismayed by the ongoing instability and violence in Haiti. Do you still have any family there? And what are your thoughts on what it would take to try and improve the situation there?
LaFortune: I have many family in Haiti, and I was born in Haiti. So Haiti is my home country even though the United States is my country now. So I have a deep rooted connection there. Haiti is a country of resilience. I’m so proud of our motto: “L’union fait la force — unity makes power.” And what I do hope the Haitian people can do and the community, the world altogether, is really come together to see people’s humanities. And to also think about what are, what contributions they made to cause Haiti to be in the state that it’s in. The New York Times, I believe a year ago, came out with a quite powerful article outlining why Haiti is where it is right now. Haiti had to pay reparations for winning their independence. Imagine the United States paying reparation to England for liberating itself. And Haiti has made significant contributions to all the Americas. From helping Simon Bolivar win his wars, but also liberating the people, to Haitians fighting in the Revolutionary War, to great American leaders who are Haitian or descendants of Haitian people. And so what I hope is that the Haitian people can maintain their resilience. But at the end of the day, there are people who are losing lives. There are children, families who are struggling, and I do hope that the world can see the humanity in every individual or nation that is struggling right now. And that’s why I’m also here with City Year because we see the humanity of others and focusing on a cause greater than self is what we do.
Donnis: We’ve got to leave it there. Thank you for joining us so much Executive Director of City Year Providence Nirva LaFortune.
LaFortune: Thank you Ian for having me.
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Pundits and political scientists will spend years studying how Donald Trump won two terms as president. There’s little doubt that Trump’s image was buffed by serving as the star of the hit TV show, The Apprentice, which portrayed him as a decisive and highly successful businessman. In fact, Trump’s record in business is mixed. But popular culture may be the secret sauce that has helped propel the abrasive New Yorker to the apex of American politics. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF politics column, posting by around 4 this afternoon on X, Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, and at thepublicsradio.org/TGIF.
That’s it for our show. Political Roundtable is a production of The Public’s Radio. Our producer is James Baumgartner. Political Roundtable is taking next week off, so I want to wish our listeners a happy Thanksgiving. I’m Ian Donnis, and I’ll see you on the radio.
