Newest Sustainability Commission Member Gives Back to City That Helped Her During COVID

by Eric Halvarson

Last Monday, Providence’s Sustainability Commission welcomed its newest member: Dawn Sumner. A lifelong city resident, Sumner never considered the role community played in her life. But after receiving help during the COVID pandemic, she is ready to give back and leave a positive impact on [...]

No Shortcuts: ‘Ways Home: Stories’ by Karen Lee Boren

by Diane Josefowicz

Speaking with The Alembic after the publication of her first book, Girls in Peril (2006), the Providence writer Karen Lee Boren described adolescence “as a time when young people, often unwillingly, must recognize their separateness as individuals despite their intense connections to their friends.” In [...]

Lax Enforcement, Lack of Awareness Result in Poor Recycling Ticket Returns in Providence

by Colleen Cronin ecoRI News

Editor’s Note:This story was originally published by ecoRI. Republished with permission. Over the past few years, the city has received payment for about half the tickets it has issued for recycling violations. From 2022 to 2024, the percentage of recycling tickets paid hovered just above 50%, [...]

David Morales: State Rep, Wrestling Villain, Spider-Man… Mayor of Providence?

by Andrea Gutierrez, Eric Halvarson

David Morales had all of the things you might expect at a Tuesday night birthday party: pizza, wings, pretzels and friends. Except after singing “Happy Birthday,” the crowd gathered to watch Morales, a Democrat Rhode Island state representative, give a campaign speech at Narragansett Brewery.  [...]

Community Members Tour the Apparently Doomed Gilbert Stuart Middle School Building

by Jonathan Howard

Although some neighbors continue to insist that the massive 95-year-old middle school on Princeton Avenue still could and should be renovated, Tuesday’s early morning small group tour of the long-empty Gilbert Stuart Middle School on Tuesday morning felt like a final farewell. Most windows were [...]

Home Is Where the Art Is: Go ‘Head, Fix You a Plate at AS220

by Carole Saltz

In the exhibition GO ‘HEAD, FIX YOU A PLATE, Jazzmen Lee-Johnson echoes and extends [the] concept [of home] by conjuring a spiritual geography…that binds the domestic, the external, and the ancestral. – Chris Roberts, from the guide to the exhibit, Go ‘Head, Fix You A [...]

The Future of the St. Joseph’s Hospital Building Is Unclear; Here’s a Look into Its Past

by Katy Pickens

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by The Providence Post, a publication of the Providence Preservation Society. After going to auction last week, the future of St. Joseph’s Hospital on Peace Street remains unclear. The property up for bid includes the hospital complex and [...]

“Nuevas Voces” Raises Up Community Leaders for Environmental Justice

by Amber Ma

It’s a balmy 80 degrees outside on an August afternoon on Blackstone Boulevard.  On the same day, at the same time, it’s  an intolerable 93 degrees at St. Joseph’s Hospital. According to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), people within the same city [...]

The candidates, so far, in the Providence City Council Ward 2 special election

by Steve Ahlquist

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Steve Ahlquist’s Substack. Reprinted with permission. The Providence Board of Canvassers and Registration has issued a warrant to hold a Special Election to fill the vacancy for the Providence City Council in Ward 2. The Special Election [...]

Creating Space for Black Joy at This Year’s PVD Fest

by Christopher West

Recently, Downtown in Providence was converted to a festival showcasing the creative talents of the city. Or, as Joe Wilson, Jr. called PVD Fest a place of “radical joy.” Wilson, director of the Department of Art, Culture and Tourism, said the 10 year old event [...]