Shaded zone represents areas in Providence at high risk of flooding. (Courtesy of First Street)
Weather!
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In November of 2023, climate scientists worried that the global average temperature swung over 2℃ (3.6℉) above pre-industrial levels, a critical turning point.  This year has shown that rising temperatures are more than theoretical, and may have caused one of Rhode Island’s rainiest years on [...]

14
Aug
Photo courtesy of the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Providence: University Town
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Providence’s colleges and universities provide opportunities to their thousands of students and to the broader community, plus they are often cited as engines of economic activity for the city. Seven institutions of higher learning are located here: Brown University, The Community College of Rhode Island [...]

31
Jul
Providence Ward Map with Councilpeople
Voting in Providence
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2024 is shaping to be a supremely important election year, and all eyes are on the Presidential race.  Providence, long a deep-sea-blue city, will almost certainly vote Democratic.  Though  the city as a whole has a fairly homogeneous party alignment, each ward differs greatly in [...]

10
Jul
Photo courtesy of Women’s Fund of RI
Women’s Wellness
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Women have always been socially disadvantaged compared to men – with lower representation in politics despite higher turnout rates, lower salaries in the same fields, sole burden of childbearing, and the lion’s share of child-raising. The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island has created an interactive [...]

03
Jul
Take That, Rome!
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Oxford Economics, an economic forecasting and analytic company created in partnership with England’s Oxford University, publishes an annual Global Cities Index. They recently published their 2024 index, in which they ranked 1000 cities around the world according to 27 indicators across five categories. Little Providence [...]

12
Jun
Mt. Pleasant High School photo: courtesy of Providence Preservation Society
RIDE Has a Plan to Tear Down Mt. Pleasant High School?!
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Mount Pleasant High School (MPHS) is a storied neighborhood landmark with an uncertain future. The Depression-era structure, built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, is a “monumental…building in the Collegiate Gothic mode…relatively scarce in Providence,” according to the Providence Preservation Society. Now the Providence [...]

03
Apr