Cincinnati Parents for Public Schools (PPS) was formed in 1995 as an affiliate of the national organization. The PPS model was introduced to Cincinnati by Kelly Butler, formerly a Cincinnati public school parent and at the time the Executive Director of the national organization in Mississippi. In an effort to build as broad a base of community involvement as possible and to test the climate for such a project, Kelly spent six months meeting face-to-face with a cross section of the civic, corporate and parent leadership. These early meetings included the CPS superintendent and president of the school board, the local teachers union and the parents from neighborhood and magnet schools; primary, middle and secondary schools, east side and west side schools
Underscoring the importance of Corporate and civic involvement and support, Kelly also contacted representatives from the Cincinnati Business Community, Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. Leadership Cincinnati, the Mayor’s office, the Urban League, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Civic Confederation, the Coalition of Neighborhoods, Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, the Committee of Fifty and the Urban Appalachian Council. Of equal importance were contacts in the religious philanthropic and media communities, including The National Conference, Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition of Cincinnati, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (parochial schools office), the Baptist Ministers’ conference, the Jewish Federation, the Mayerson Foundation, Fifth-Third Trust Department, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the Procter and Gamble Fund, the Kroger Company, Federated Department Stores, WCPO, the Cincinnati Post, the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Herald.