About us
Working to ensure the success of every Black student in Portland
The Center for Black Excellence (“CBE”) is a collaborative of Black-led and Black-serving community organizations along with schools working together to advance a culture of Black excellence, unify and elevate the Black educational experience, and improve outcomes for Black students, families, and teachers.
The CBE does this through innovation, collaboration, cultural affirmation, advocacy, and an unyielding emphasis on and exposure to the bold beauty of Black brilliance.
What we understand
Black joy, expression, and enrichment are essential to developing young minds
Black students are individuals, each with unique needs and talents
Black students are born of their communities, past and present
Every child can learn and has the right to be effectively taught
What we advocate for
Educational intervention rooted in reliable and actionable data
Open, honest partnership between, and support for, educators and families
Collaborative, innovative solutions to systems and policy challenges
Culturally responsive curriculum, approaches, and educators
History of the CBE
How did we get here?
In 2020, as the nation reeled in the wake of yet another string of police killings, Jefferson High School was next up to be modernized after years of neglect. At the same time, Harriet Tubman Middle School was set to be razed in a planned expansion of Interstate 5–the same interstate that had previously disrupted and displaced Black life in Albina. In response, Black leaders in Portland proposed that a Center for Black Student Excellence (“CBSE”) be built alongside the new Jefferson. With focus and precision, the Center would address the unjustifiable achievement gap, as well as support the holistic wellness of Black students and their support systems. Directors on the Portland Public Schools Board of Education included $60 million in capital funds for the CBSE in that year’s bond. Portland voters enthusiastically approved.
The successful bond enabled Black-led and Black-serving educational organizations in Albina to engage in the design and implementation of the CBSE. Building on a long legacy of Black folks’ fight for equitable education, together, community leaders established the Center for Black Excellence: an independent, community-led, non-profit organization working to realize the promise of the CBSE, and the promise of a quality education for all Black students in Portland.
What is the CBE?
Bigger than a building
If there’s one belief that undergirds all of the CBE’s work, it’s that Black excellence is too bold, too bountiful, and too beautiful to be held by any one building. While the CBE works with Portland Public Schools to carry out the construction of the CBSE, that building will be but one of many community spaces dedicated to uplifting Black students and Black excellence. As far as the CBE is concerned, each of those existing structures is a center for—and of—Black excellence, too.
The CBE is just one in a constellation of organizations and leaders promoting Black student excellence throughout Portland Public Schools, and working toward the revitalization of Black Albina, which sits in the heart of the District. But a reality of displacement and gentrification is that Black students and families are now dispersed throughout the city. Even though the CBSE will be in Albina, the CBE’s work is wherever Black students and their support systems are.
Meet our Executive Director
Aryn A. Frazier is the Executive Director of the Center for Black Excellence. Prior to her role at the CBE, Aryn was a Strategic Response Associate at a law firm in Washington, D.C. Her legal practice consisted of racial equity reviews, internal and government investigations, and congressional hearings preparation. She also worked on a range of pro bono advising and litigation matters. Aryn’s previous experience includes work on political campaigns, student organizing, and civil rights issues ranging from voting rights, to labor law, to police brutality and mass incarceration.
Aryn is a graduate of Stanford Law School, which she attended as a Knight Hennessy Scholar. She has two masters degrees from Oxford University, where she studied U.S. History and Comparative and International Education on a Rhodes Scholarship. As a Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia, Aryn earned her B.A. with Honors in Politics and African-American and African Studies. She has been published in news outlets including The Washington Post and Teen Vogue, and was a 2016 TEDx Charlottesville speaker. Aryn is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland. She grew up singing, strumming her guitar, playing basketball, and teaching martial arts.
Our Board
The Center for Black Excellence Board is comprised of leaders who have been longstanding champions of Black students, families, and communities in Portland and beyond, as well as critical and committed leaders from within PPS. Our Board works together to advance excellence for every Black child in Portland.
Bahia Overton
CBE Board Chair; Executive Director, Black Parent Initiative
Cheryl Proctor
Deputy Superintendent of Instruction & School Communities, Portland Public Schools
Danielle Wade
Area Vice President, Charter Communications
Gary Hollands
Chair, Portland Public Schools Board of Education
Herman Greene
Vice Chair, Portland Public Schools Board of Education
Kali Thorne Ladd
Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Institute; Co-Founder, KairosPDX
Kiesha Locklear
Senior Project Manager, Portland Public Schools
Marsha Williams
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, KairosPDX
Sandy Husk
Interim Superintendent, Portland Public Schools
Tony Hopson, Sr.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Self Enhancement Inc.
Tracey Brown
Transformational Social Emotional Learning Teacher on Special Assignment, Portland Public Schools