The Mission

The Philadelphia Student Union exists to build the power of young people to demand a high-quality education in the Philadelphia public school system. We are a youth-centered organization and we make positive changes in the short term by learning how to organize to build power. We also work toward becoming life-long learners and leaders who can bring diverse groups of people together to address the problems that our communities face.

Our History

The Philadelphia Student Union was started in 1995 by a group of young people who were concerned about not receiving the quality of education that they deserved. They decided that if school reform were going to be successful, it would have to involve students as leaders for change. At that time the White Dog Café was starting a non-profit called Urban Retrievers, which agreed to sponsor the Philadelphia Student Union. As the Philadelphia Student Union grew, it became clear that it was the most exciting part of Urban Retrievers’ programming. In March of 2001 Urban Retrievers’ board decided to officially change the name of the organization to the Philadelphia Student Union.

The Philadelphia Student Union started with a small group of students mainly from magnet schools. In the first two years of its existence the message of PSU reached students in the neighborhood high schools. Neighborhood school students flocked to PSU because of their desperate need to make changes at their schools, which lacked books, qualified teachers, and healthy school cultures. In 1997 the organization opened chapters at Simon Gratz High School and West Philadelphia High School. From this point forward the Student Union’s primary membership became neighborhood school students. We continue to have active participation from magnet school students as well.

The organization has grown from the dream of a few students to a strong organization that has allowed students themselves to become a major force for improving schools in Philadelphia. Over 3,500 young people have completed the Student Union’s leadership development program. These young people learned how to bring people together to solve problems. Many of our former members have become active in organizing, youth work and advocacy in their colleges and communities.

MEET THE TEAM

  • Chantelle is a mother, social impact entrepreneur, creative activist, and former PSU Youth Organizer with over 15 years of experience working to support processes of transformative justice in Philly and beyond. Chantelle is excited to bring her cross industry experience and artist perspective to the work of supporting PSU’s next phase of growth and is looking forward to collectively celebrating 30 years of PSU history. Chantelle is also a long time member of About Face Veterans Against War, is the Co-Director of the theater company Practice Space, and can often be found in one of Philly’s great venues dancing out the stress of the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

  • Kiian (they/them) is a central Jersey native, originally from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, who is now living in Philly. Kiian is a poet and writer who is passionate about using writing and other artistic mediums to make political statements and move us to action. When they're not organizing they enjoy reading classic Black literature, finding new hobbies to try, and learning more about the environment. They graduated from Rutgers University-New Brunswick with degrees in Africana Studies and Journalism.

  • Qiaira Riley (she/her) is a sagittarius, cat mom and interdisciplinary artist, raised on Chicago’s south-side and based in Philadelphia. She holds a dual B.A. from Lake Forest College in African American Studies and Studio Art, and is a graduate of Moore College of Art and Design’s Socially Engaged Studio Art MFA. Her theoretical, community, and creative practices explore archiving, Black women's cooking phenomenology, ancestral veneration, migration, and the lived experiences of Black femme technoculture.

    Amongst other projects, Qiaira is currently curating experimental art experiences centering Black women, femmes and enbys as a founding member of 2.0 Art Collective. Her zine, How Tiffany Pollard Built the Internet: Representations of Simulacra, Virtuality, and Black Women and Femmes on the Internet and its Art, was released in Fall 2021.

  • Lawrence Mahoney-Jones (he/him) has been on the board for PSU since May 2022. This is his second stint on the board, as he was also a member as a high school student. Lawrence was a member of PSU from 2005 to 2008 and remained active in grassroots organizing throughout his life, including working with organizations like Media Mobilizing Project (now Movement Alliance Project). Lawrence stayed close to home for his undergraduate experience, graduating from Drexel University in 2013, with a B.S. in Business Administration, Marketing. He then graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania with a Master's of Education in Educational Leadership: College Student Affairs in 2017. He now works at Temple University as an Academic Advisor for the College of Science and Technology. He rejoined the board because he believes in the power of young people and how that power can move mountains. He wants to support the organization in any way he can!

  • pep marie (they/them) was born and raised in Philly and became a member of the Philadelphia Student Union in 2006, while in high school. Being a part of young people of color led work was the foundation for their organizing to come. pep went on to attend Oberlin College, where they cocreated curriculum to address anti Blackness and Gender Justice on campus. They majored in Sociology with concentrations in both Africana and Urban Studies.

    When they returned to Philly after college, pep became an organizer with PSU and then later cofounded PhillySUN, an organization centered on supporting young parents in Southwest Philly to transform their schools. Today pep coordinates Our City Our Schools, a coalition of youth, caregivers, school staff and community members from across the city. Beyond their day job, pep designs clothes for QTPOC and provides mediation/facilitation support to address how systems of oppression show up in our movements. They are very excited to be engaging with PSU in a new capacity on the board!

  • Saudia Durrant (she/her) was born in West Philadelphia, the youngest in a blended family with 5 siblings, and to parents from southwest and south philadelphia. She attended elementary school in West Philadelphia at Transfiguration of our Lord, which eventually became St. Cyprian Catholic School at 63rd and Cedar. She attended Cardinal O'Hara High School, and graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor's Degree in Broadcast Journalism and took numerous classes from the African American Studies Department.

    While pursuing her Bachelor's degree, she also became involved in community organizing throughout the City of Philadelphia. She waitressed for 5 years at the Philadelphia International Airport and managed to organize one of the first and largest food service labor union contracts with dozens of other food service workers due to unfair wages and racial mistreatment. Simultaneously, she joined the Temple's Black Student Union electoral board, as a historian and community action co-chair.

    Her senior year of college, she shifted to pursuing media and communications opportunities and interned with the Power 99 Rise N Grind Morning Radio Show, as well as the Wake Up With WURD morning radio show with Solomon Jones at 9:00 am fulfilling roles including on air performances, talent booking, and researching. Upon graduating, she accepted a part time position at WURD, as a board operator, helping to manage the on air show programming, and participated in guest on air appearances for Philly Cam, local independent community led and operated media station.

    In 2017, she returned to her interest in community organizing and accepted her first full time position as a youth organizer with the Philadelphia Student Union. Over the next 3 years, as a part of the organizing team she helped to set up in school chapter programming, city-wide meetings, and was a campaign strategist for the Alternatives to the School to Prison Pipeline campaign, which shifted to becoming a Police Free Schools campaign in 2020.

    In 2021, she shifted to working as a racial justice organizer for the Abolitionist Law Center working to end cruel and unusual punishment within the PA jails and prison systems. She also supported program managers for the Gender Justice Fund, helping formerly incarcerated women, queer, trans, and non-binary communities to organize against gender based violence in prisons.

    She now works at Advancement Project as a senior campaign strategist supporting 10-15 organizations nationwide that work to build liberatory education through campaigns that seek to end the school to prison pipeline, and remove police from schools — a space that is meant for black and brown young people to learn with resources that do not criminalize or traumatize them.

    She currently resides in West Philadelphia, and is a board member for the Philadelphia Student Union.