Providence Asks Voters to Fund More Housing Bonds. How Was The Money Spent Last Time?

by Eric Halvarson

This November, the City of Providence will put a question before voters: should the City borrow another $25 million dollars and lend it to developers of income-restricted housing?  Providence’s Housing Trust Fund is one of the largest pots of money administered by local cities and [...]

Providence Completes New Greenway on Kinsley. What’s the Next Major Transit Project?

by Eric Halvarson

The Woonasquatucket River Greenway has been in the works for more than 30 years. It’s a project that bridges the decline of Olneyville’s past manufacturing industry with the current influx of artist spaces and nonprofits to Central Providence warehouses. In the 90s, Jane Sherman, founder [...]

Providence and the Underground Railroad: New Bibliography Documents Anti-Slavery Activity in RI

by Eric Halvarson

Beginning in the late 1600s, enslaved people lived in Rhode Island and their enslavers profited from their stolen labor, as well as the wider economy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. However, according to research compiled by the nonprofit group Stages of Freedom, Rhode Island may [...]

Real Housewives of Rhode Island and the Reality of “Doubled-Up Homelessness” in Providence

by Eric Halvarson

Dr. Molly Richard is an academic usually focused on studying homelessness, and she had never watched the Real Housewives franchise. But as an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island, she tuned in when the reality TV show came to the Ocean State. “This [...]

Providence Can’t Afford to Lose Housing Stock. Here’s the Plan to Keep Aging Units Up to Code.

by Eric Halvarson

Build, build, build—that’s been a common refrain around the rising cost of housing in Rhode Island. While policymakers and constituents have major disagreements around regulating the price of housing, leaders at the State House and Providence City Hall are passing policies designed to increase construction. [...]

Rhode Island Celebrates Its 250th Birthday at Newly Renovated “Old State House”

by Jane Lancaster

We are obliged by necessity and it becomes our highest Duty to use every means with which God and Nature have furnished us, in support of our invaluable rights, & privileges to oppose that Power which is exerted only for our destruction. On May 4, [...]

Global Walking Festival in Honor of Jane Jacobs Returns to Providence with Focus on Community Insights of the City

by Sarah Gleason

On the first weekend in May, the global walking festival “Jane’s Walks” will return to Providence, with volunteer-led walks to help residents discover surprises and wonders both in their own backyards and in corners of the city they have yet to explore.  Today, Jane’s Walks are [...]

“A Homecoming”: Elmwood Community Center to Reopen After Seven Years With New Computer Lab, Learning Center

by Eric Halvarson

An “anchor” of Ward 9 is opening up to community use for the first time since 2019.  On Friday, the Elmwood Community Center unveiled new renovations including a computer lab and upgrades to the building’s basic mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. The center is already [...]

Factory on the Woonasquatucket Being Transformed into 500-Person Capacity Baptist Church

by Eric Halvarson

A new cupola sits on top of a large brick building on Kinsley Avenue, and on the inside, the shape looks like a cross. The structure lets light shine down into the second floor, which will soon open up into a new mezzanine that looks [...]

Why Some Communities Don’t Trust the Media — And What Newsrooms Are Doing about It

by Paul Cuno-Booth

Editor’s Note: To commemorate the upcoming celebration of Local News Day on April 9, The Eye is reprinting select articles from a series titled “Know Your News” by Granite State News Collaborative. About: Know Your News is a Granite State News Collaborative and NENPA Press [...]