Three years after a city tax agreement dedicated at least $120,000 annually to a community benefits fund for projects in South Providence and Washington Park, residents are struggling to follow the money.
Neighborhoods near the Port of Providence are calling for a more transparent and democratic process for the funds promised to their communities in a tax deal with industrial business park ProvPort. To date, the Board of Parks Commissioners used $125,000 from the fund for work on Richardson Street Park in Ward 10 and $125,000 for improvements to Pearl Street Park in Ward 11. Yet, Ward 10 Councilman Pedro Espinal said he has not distributed any of the money under his authority.
What is the Community Benefits Fund?
When the Providence City Council prepared a fast-tracked tax agreement to renew ProvPort’s 30-year lease in 2023, residents downwind of the port fought back. Spearheaded by the environmental justice coalition the People’s Port Authority, they demanded community input on the deal to try and reverse decades of industrial pollution that caused high rates of asthma and elevated risks of diseases in nearby neighborhoods with a majority of low income people of color.
“We are a neglected, working class, BIPOC, poor neighborhood,” said Linda Perri, president of the Washington Park Association. “We need environmental stuff done here in Wards 10 and 11. Also a jobs program with the port would get young people to go into the trades and support themselves.”
The final tax agreement mandated a series of community meetings to guide ProvPort’s Master Plan and ordered ProvPort to pay the city 7% of its annual revenue. In addition, the deal established a sustainability fund and community benefits fund for the wards bordering the port. ProvPort pays each fund 1% of its annual revenue, or at least $120,000 dollars every year. The ordinance codifying the tax agreement says the community benefits reserves can be used for racial and environmental justice, economic workforce training, parks and recreation facilities and more “as provided in the Master Plan.”
“I would love to see more renovations, accountability for landlords, making sure that properties are held to a certain standard. I would love to see more community gardens, parks that are being taken care of,” said Liana Gonzalez-McGee, a school psychologist at Young Woods Elementary School in Ward 10. “If you’re proud of a place that you live, then you are going to be more involved. You’re going to want to keep and protect your community.”
According to the ordinance, $25,000 from the community benefits fund each year is dedicated for Ward 10 projects under the direction of the Ward 10 Councilperson. The remaining amount is distributed by the city’s Board of Park Commissioners to projects in areas “immediately impacted by the Port of Providence in Wards 10 and 11.” However, residents of Washington Park and South Providence want a say in how the account impacts their neighborhoods.
“It needs to be democratically passed along, similar to the sustainability fund,” said Perri. “We don’t have that.”
The city’s Office of Sustainability oversees the sustainability account, but a volunteer group of environmental advocates called the Sustainability Commission manages the fund’s rollout. The commission, which includes members from neighborhoods near the Port, is preparing a public request for proposals to support environmental projects such as air quality monitoring or education. While the Sustainability Commission prepares to open their application process at the beginning of the new year, advocates say the community benefits fund is operating behind closed doors. (See related story in The Providence Eye)
“I want transparency in how the money is actually being spent because the money is already being spent,” said Monica Huertas, Executive Director of the People’s Port Authority. “It’s kind of been a member of the City Council [from] our Ward 10 and 11 just picking up the phone and saying ‘Hey, I need money for so and so.’ And they’re like, ‘okay.’ That’s what we’ve been hearing, and that doesn’t work at all.”
The Board of Parks Commissioners has already spent $250,000
When The Providence Eye asked the Board of Park Commissioners about using the community benefits fund, city spokesperson Josh Estrella wrote in an email that “aspects of this process are still being developed” and declined a full interview on the topic before the time of publishing. However, Providence Press Secretary Anthony Vega confirmed that ProvPort community benefits funds were used for two projects.
According to Vega, $125,000 from the fund was allocated to improvements at Richardson Park in 2024. In September, Mayor Brett Smiley and Ward 10 Councilman Espinal celebrated $2 million worth of upgrades at the park, including a new fitness area, two new playgrounds and a renovated splashpad. Providence officials said more work on the baseball field is expected in 2026, according to WJAR.
On May 7, the Board of Parks Commissioners voted to allocate $125,000 from the Community Benefits Fund to improve Pearl Street Park. Vega said the total project budget could draw a total of $175,000 and construction is scheduled for this winter. According to the Providence Parks Department’s website, the Pearl Street playground was resurfaced in 2025 with engineered wood fiber mulch to replace rubber surfacing and more upgrades are planned for 2026.
“I’m all for repairs for playgrounds but where is the democratic process?” said Perri. “We get told what’s happening, not asked. We’re not part of the process. That’s disturbing.”
Who decides how the money should be spent?
Ward 10 Councilman Pedro Espinal said he has no knowledge of the community benefits account being used.
“My understanding is that those funds are supposed to be sitting there and waiting for the culmination of the Master Plan,” said Espinal. “So I don’t know why anybody will make any decisions pertaining to that funding if we have not finished the work”
Meanwhile, in January of 2024, Espinal proposed amending the ordinance to place nearly all of the money into a scholarship fund for Ward 10 and 11 high school graduates, reserving $20,000 of the money for the Ward 10 Councilperson to direct towards other projects. Opponents of the plan said it would not address problems caused by the port in their neighborhoods. However, Espinal still considers the scholarship fund an option.
“I am in the process of taking all the opinions that have been put forward, all the work that is being done with the Master Plan,” said Espinal, who called education funding critical. “We’re just compiling information and then at the appropriate time we will render an opinion about that.”
ProvPort is planning to hold one more Master Plan meeting.
“We want the process to obviously be more transparent,” said Huertas. “What’s the point in working for over a year on a plan when they can just use the money anytime they feel like it?”
Eric Halvarson is a multimedia journalist focused on the political ecology shaping a new world in climate crisis. His work has been featured by Democracy Now!, Burnaway, the Appalachian Voice and ecoRI News. Hobbies include gardening, science-fiction, volleyball, dancing and holding onto a sense of wonder.
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