Spotlight: Our Voice Nuestra Voz (OVNV)

CO-FOUNDER MARY MORAN DISCUSSES ISSUES ORGANIZING IN NEW ORLEANS

Since March, parents have been navigating the Coronavirus new normal difficulties as best they can, and everyone agrees that it’s been tough going. Yet one thing that’s made this time a little easier is solidarity: parents everywhere are trading pandemic stories, learning tips, and other life hacks with one another.

In New Orleans, one parental group helping others is Our Voice Nuestra Voz (OVNV), a non-profit organization united in lobbying for safe, equitable public education, among other key local issues. The organization was instrumental in postponing in-person learning for Orleans Parish public school students this fall. However, that wasn’t the first time the group has made headlines. OVNV has been organizing successful policy campaigns for parents in New Orleans’ Black and Latino communities since 2015.

Executive director Mary Moran co-founded the organization to amplify the voices and concerns within her Black and Brown community (hence the combination of “Our Voice” and “Nuestra Voz,” its Spanish translation). Over the past five years, the organization’s efforts have focused on immigration and justice advocacy issues as well as education.

Executive director & co-founder Mary Moran

photo by Rhino

When asked how they develop initiatives, Mary Moran emphasized the importance of listening as the key to the organization’s many successes. “We started talking to parents to find out where they needed support and where the problems were in the system,” she explains. A few years ago, for example, several parents came to Moran concerned about the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s discriminatory policy prohibiting undocumented students from participating in high school sports. OVNV promptly created the Campaign to Stop LHSAA Discrimination, obtaining over 2,000 signatures and attracting national attention that resulted in the policy’s amendment.

Currently the organization is developing a campaign that encourages better communication between school administrators and parents. As Moran points out, “engagement is critical in the [COVID-19] environment.” Moran believes the NOLA Public Schools board needs more avenues to hear parental concerns, especially those in the Black and Latino communities regarding their traditions and habits that the school board may not consider when drafting plans.

For instance, Moran tells of the Latino tendency for grandparents to pick up their grandchildren from school and care for them while the parents are at work. In a global pandemic, where the risk of severe illness increases with age and young children are potential “super spreaders,” in-person classes could disproportionately affect older adults in the Latino community. OVNV was instrumental in the school board’s decision to start Orleans Parish’s public school year online. And yet, the organization is still fighting for virtual learning equity, including internet and computer access for all.

In the future, Moran hopes the organization will provide more opportunities for conversation across cultures, as understanding different cultures is crucial to systemic change. “The world and young people are calling on us to find ways to both learn and unlearn some of the racism and injustice that impacts our day-today living,” she says.

When asked what advice she would give parents seeking change in their own communities, Moran recommends they ask for support and stresses the importance of engaging. OVNV, she explains, is “really working on creating and working with parents to develop [their] leadership and [their] selective capacity to create a more just and equitable city.”

And despite the tumultuous times we are living in, Mary Moran reminds us to “be gentle with ourselves.”

To find out more about Mary Moran and the work her team is doing, visit Our Voice Nuestra Voz on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, or check out their website: ovnv.org.

Sofia Rivera is a native New Orleanian, sophomore at Columbia University, and Nola Family editorial intern.