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 being used to host City recreation programs, and will expand offerings by the summer when Providence hires a director for the building.
This is the first of three recreation centers in Providence to take advantage of funding from the Governor’s community learning center program. The learning centers add a new dimension to Providence rec centers as the latest additions to a wave of upgrades to City recreation facilities that cost more than $22 million dollars.
Programming Returns to the Elmwood Community Center
In the summer of 2019, the Elmwood Community Center closed down with a leaking roof, poor heating and asbestos contamination on the property. At the time, the center held sports practices inside and outside of the building, hosted a food pantry that served 750 families a year and multiple social services run by the Community Action Partnership of Providence.
“We did a petition. We really wanted the city to step up to the plate to fix it, so that [CAPP] would stay there,” said Paula Donovan, a local resident who said it didn’t really seem like the city cared. “They kept saying they didn’t have the money, and they were waiting for money, etc. etc.”
Ward 9 City Councilor Juan Pichardo said the closure left a “void” in the local area.
“When a center like this is closed, we don’t just lose the building. We lose our connection to one another,” said Pichardo. “With the community center back and better than ever, we finally have our home base again.”
Recreation Department Director Sean Holley said they started using the building again in January. While Providence completes renovations at Davey Lopes Recreation Center, the City is hosting the Davey Lopes after-school and sports programs at Elmwood.
“While Davey Lopes is still here, I don’t want them overstepping each other,” said Holley, who expects Davey Lopes renovations to be completed by July. “There will be a segue period where the Elmwood director will come in.”
Already, the City scheduled wellness programs for seniors at Elmwood, and Holley said soon community organizations will be able to reserve spaces at the building to host their programs. The City will be inviting Workforce Solutions of Providence/Cranston,TradesUp Initiative and a Step Into Spring wellness program into the space this week to meet three requirements of the Governor’s program.
“Workforce, health and education are the three touch points,” said Holley. Providence must operate those programs for at least five years to fulfill the grant’s requirements, and the City is preparing a request for proposals to identify partners for those programs. “That’s something I’m going to weave into all of our rec centers.”
City Communications Director Josh Estrella said Providence plans to meet the learning center requirements of education, workforce development and health monitoring by funding programs through an additional $95,000 the Governor’s office is dedicating to each community learning center as well as funding from the recreation department. However, Elmwood will still be able to use the space for purposes outside of the grant’s goals.
“While the funds for these renovations and new programs must be used on those specific kinds of programming, it does not exclude other kinds of programming at the recreation centers,” wrote Estrella in an email.
On April 18, Ward 9 residents can go to a community resources fair at Sackett Recreation Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for information about recreation opportunities, education resources, summer job opportunities and other services, including free vision exams.
Donovan hopes there will be future community input on programming in the form of a board of directors for the center.
“I haven’t been informed of a community meeting about the community center in a couple of years,” said Donovan. “Maybe there’s a plan in place, but I don’t know how much recent community engagement there has been about this plan.”
New Upgrades at Elmwood and The Funding Behind It
In 2022, contractors found the building in poor condition with large amounts of copper stolen from the property.
To fund renovations, Providence dedicated $1.5 million dollars from the Capital Improvement Plan and matched it with $1.5 million from ARPA money distributed for pandemic recovery efforts.
Martone Construction fixed mechanical, electrical and plumbing problems. Their team also installed brand new windows, new floors and accessible bathrooms. The gym has new wood floors and a new scoreboard, and there is a brand new kitchen facility. The exterior of the building, which used to host a mural by local artist Munir Mohammed, was painted over during the renovations.
“People were saying it was outdated, it was the past, but at the same time, it represented an important past of the issues the community had dealt with,” said Donovan. “I thought it was going to be restored. That’s a huge disappointment.”
Providence also received $250,000 from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank to purchase an emergency generator for the building, which could allow the center to distribute services and resources during natural disasters.
“I think it is appropriate that the sun is shining and that it feels like the first day of spring because it is in fact a new season here in Elmwood,” said Mayor Brett Smiley. “And we’re so thrilled that this center, which has been worked on for years and has been closed, is now a bright light and a fresh space for this community.”
In 2024, the Center was allotted another $3 million dollars from Governor Dan McKee’s Community Learning Center initiative to improve building conditions as well as install a computer lab and audio-visual systems throughout the property.
“Our plan here is to create a culture in our state that in every home, everyday, learning matters,” said McKee. “If we’re able to build that culture in our state, we are going to raise outcomes for our kids in a real positive way, and we’re going to raise incomes for our families.”
McKee’s program uses $82 million in ARPA money to build a total of 21 of these centers across the state in a bid to recover learning losses during the pandemic. The CLC program is also funding the $4.3 million learning center at Joslin and the $8.7 million learning center at Davey Lopes, whose namesake died at the age of 80 on April 8. All the centers must be open by the end of the year in order to qualify for the pandemic relief money.
Residents expressed concerns that the outside of the building, which used to host a basketball court and green space, is being left unfinished.
“It’s just kind of this open question of what’s going to happen there,” said Jennifer Dalton Vincent, a local law student and Elmwood resident. “There was not money in the Learn365RI grant to do anything with the green space.”
Providence Rec Centers Get a Boost. Will Learning Be Improved?
The computer labs and meeting rooms offer serious tech upgrades to Providence’s community centers, where leaders hope residents use the digital tools for telemedicine, job applications and creative learning. Building these three learning centers comes as the City tries to recover control of local schools from the state, and hopes to meet several success metrics set by the state.
“There’s a lot of work underway in the City of Providence right now,” said Smiley. “From schools […] to meaningful investments in our rec centers, to these community learning centers and to many other capital improvements.”
Elmwood is one of eleven City recreation centers that recently underwent renovations. Zuccolo Recreation Center recently gained a new roof and gymnasium paint. Centers like Igliozzi, Rollins, Kennedy, Rogers and Sackett all touted smaller improvements such as new bleachers and updated bathrooms.
“We would be excited to see programming in these spaces that includes hands-on learning, arts, wellness, academic enrichment, and career exploration, all shaped by what Providence youth and families are looking for,” said the Providence After School Alliance in a statement. “Community learning centers have the potential to contribute to that when they are designed with consistency, accessibility, and partnership in mind.”
The Governor’s office said Providence already received over $500,000 in Learn365RI funding, and Providence Public Schools received $330,000.
This money went to efforts like a “RecConnect Youth Volunteer program” by the Rec department and the Providence After School Alliance for 13-year-olds to develop entrepreneurship and business development skills. Learn365RI also granted $50,000 to Providence for nonprofit Onward We Learn to help students complete FAFSA applications and to encourage (student attendance) through the Recreation Department.
“Those are communities that we work closely with, so we will certainly look at whether or not Onward We Learn will be able to use that space for the programming that we provide,” said Andrew Bramson, the CEO of Onward We Learn who was recently appointed to the Providence school board by Mayor Brett Smiley.
Bramson said out-of-school programs are examples of public-private partnerships that could help sustain funding for services.
“If we can invest in facilities that are neighborhood-oriented and can minimize the amount of resources to transport students to and from these programs, it allows us to invest more money in the programs themselves,” said Bramson.
Longtime Elmwood resident Rochelle Lee said it was a “challenge” to get to this point and the center’s positive impact must be supported.
“I believe people will fight hard to make sure future funding keeps pace with community needs,” said Lee. “Their ability to fully operate has to be a budget priority for all elected officials.”
As politicians cut the ribbon to the Elmwood Community Center’s re-opening, Councilor Pichardo pointed out the monarch butterflies painted on a mural outside that reads “Mi Comunidad,” painted by local artist Agonza.
“It’s the perfect symbol for today, a migration back to a place where we can truly thrive together,” said Pichardo. “That’s what we’re doing here in Ward 9 in the City of Providence.”
Editor’s Note: Rochelle Lee, who provided comment as an Elmwood resident, is a Board Member of The Providence Eye. She is speaking as a resident, rather than as a representative of the organization.
Eric Halvarson is a City News Reporter for The Providence Eye.
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