The Providence Eye

Check out this week's republication from @steveahlquist.bsky.social

Staff Behind Historic Central Providence Participatory Budget Fired Without Notice - The Providence Eye Editor’s Note: All Providence Eye interviews with former Central Providence Unidos staff in this article were conducted before notice of their termination. On Tuesday November 18, Central Providence U...

On Tuesday November 18, Central Providence Unidos (CPU) staff prepared to celebrate the completion of the largest participatory budgeting program in Rhode Island history.

By Wednesday afternoon, all of the staff working with Central Providence Unidos were laid off.

Storied Providence Providence-based storytelling fundraiser event

OR you could buy a ticket to our upcoming event, Storied Providence. All proceeds benefit The PVD Eye.

Link to donate here: secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/...

Today's Giving Tuesday! Will you consider pitching in to support The Providence Eye's growing local and independent coverage of all things PVD?

A screenshot of a Giving Tuesday email from the Providence Eye that reads: News outlets don't survive on their own.   Hi Philip , This Giving Tuesday, we hope that you might give to local, independent news. Phil says it well above: "We live in times of misinformation, isolation, and dehumanization - and The Eye pushes back against all of that." Will you pitch in today to help us keep momentum in the push towards a more informed and connected PVD?

The two-spidermen-pointing-at-each-other meme.

That feeling when I get a fundraising email from @thepvdeye.bsky.social that features...me.

From Brown U. Undergrads: A Primer on the December 2 Ward 2 Election - The Providence Eye Election day for Providence’s Ward 2 city council seat is fast approaching.  On Tuesday, December 2nd, Jill Davidson, winner of November 4’s Democratic Primary, will face Brown University student Axel...

Readers' Voices — Ahead of the Ward 2 City Council election, Brown Votes, which is "a non-partisan, university-wide initiative aimed at fostering democratic participation," reached out to both candidates to see where they stand.

Complex Web of Regulators Track Providence’s Low-Income Housing - The Providence Eye On October 30, the city purchased a $1.7 million dollar plot on Washington Street for another affordable housing project. Every unit in the new development by Lincoln Avenue Communities will be income...

The City has purchased a $1.7 million dollar plot on Washington Street for another affordable housing project, in which units will be income-restricted — joining over 12,000 other income-restricted units in the city.

The @thepvdeye.bsky.social is my first board. (I joined in January.)

And this is my first pledge-drive-adjacent video.

I hope you’ll consider joining me in supporting local, community-driven journalism in our beloved PVD.

This week's cartoons: Tandemonium by Hannah Dean and Worthless by Jennifer Becker 🐸🪙

House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Consequential Black Congressman by Marion Orr - The Providence Eye For someone who was, by all accounts, quiet and reserved, Charles Coles Diggs, Jr. — Michigan’s first Black member of Congress, founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, and icon of the Civil Rights ...

"Diggs is fortunate in his biographer. Orr is a graceful and engaging writer who understands how to stir and keep the reader’s interest."

Check out this review of HOUSE OF DIGGS by @marionorrauthor.bsky.social in
@thepvdeye.bsky.social

pvdeye.org/house-of-dig...

Inaugural Winter All-Ages Swim Classes Make a Splash at Batastini Rec Center - The Providence Eye Tuesday night, Batastini Recreation Center is bustling with energy in the early evening hours. The building hosts after school activities with amenities that include basketball courts, a playground, a...

The swim classes are part of an inaugural, five-week program administered by Providence Recreation.

Bunnies in our Backyards: The New England Cottontail Rabbit Repopulation Project Editor’s Note: Providence Counts is a feature of our weekly publication that tells a story through numbers, listing facts and figures from local data sets or organizations. In the 20th century, the po...

New England Cottontail Rabbits are the only rabbit species native to New England, and perhaps to your surprise, were nearly endangered in the 2000s due to habitat loss.

Roger Williams Park Zoo was a part of the effort to repopulate this native species, starting their repopulation project in 2010.

Finding His Voice: The Creative Journey of Hugo Pierre Martin Rhode Island is home to a wealth of talented actors, including French–American actor and bilingual voiceover artist Hugo Pierre Martin, newly transplanted by way of California. Before starting a new c...

Since moving to PVD, Hugo Pierre Martin has turned
his creative pursuits to an existential vampire audio
series based here in the Ocean State.

The series, The Diaries of Netovivius the Vampire, is
part Proustian take on Twilight and part love letter to
Providence.

ProvPort Community Benefits Fund Distribution Remains in Contention Almost Three Years Since Inception 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 mo...

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.

Have you gotten your tickets yet? givebutter.com/storiedpvd

PiANTA: Where Plants Steal the Show As someone who’s been a vegetarian for decades, I’ve had my fair share of plant-based meals, some okay, some very good even. But every so often, a restaurant reminds me that vegetables can absolutely ...

Review — At PiANTA, a vegan restaurant in Providence’s Federal Hill, chef and owner Michelle Politano brings real joy and confidence to plant-based cooking.

Pre-Kindergarten Lottery Fails to Meet Need in Providence It’s two months into the school year and Dina Quezada’s 4-year–old daughter is finally getting used to waking up an hour earlier. She knows many of the children in her class and is familiar with the r...

Despite RI pre-k programs aimed to provide funding for early childhood education, the most recent data on the Rhode Island Department of Education website showed that only 23% of 4-year-olds in Providence had access to the state-funded RI Pre-K program.

Pre-Kindergarten Lottery Fails to Meet Need in Providence It’s two months into the school year and Dina Quezada’s 4-year–old daughter is finally getting used to waking up an hour earlier. She knows many of the children in her class and is familiar with the r...

Pre-Kindergarten Lottery Fails to Meet Need in Providence

pvdeye.org/pre-k-lottery/ via @thepvdeye.bsky.social #PreK @rightstartri.bsky.social

Storied Providence Providence-based storytelling fundraiser event

Think you’ve heard everything about the Creative Capital?

Join The Providence Eye on 12/11 for an evening of live storytelling about our city.

Learn more and buy tickets at the link below. All ticket sales support our end-of year fundraising campaign!

PVD’s Celebrity Turkey is A Welcome Reminder of the City’s Other Residents – and the Natural World. Over the summer, College Hill got a new, very visible resident. He goes by various aliases: Esquire, Marcel, Mo, the College Hill Turkey. Nobody knows exactly where he came from, but it’s clear he is ...

This week in the @thepvdeye.bsky.social's "Readers Voices" section: an excellent essay from @visaforviolet.bsky.social, featuring a photo of PVD's celebrity turkey by yours truly.

The Halt on Snap Benefits, by the Numbers Due to the ongoing government shutdown, SNAP benefits will halt starting November 1st until the government reopens. Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders rely on SNAP benefits — including many of o...

Due to the ongoing government shutdown, SNAP benefits will halt starting November 1st until the government reopens. Hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders rely on SNAP benefits — including many of our neighbors here in Providence.

We are honored to be participating in Metcalf Institute's Climate Ready Newsrooms program. Shout out to our talented reporter Emily Smith!

Massive Schools Plan Proves Hard to Pin Down Providence is halfway through a decade-long capital improvement plan to replace or renovate its aging and long-neglected stock of public school buildings to “new or like-new” conditions. Generations o...

Providence is halfway through a decade-long capital improvement plan to replace or renovate its aging stock of public school buildings to “new or like-new” conditions.

However, few know the scale, scope or impact of one of the costliest public construction programs in the history of Providence.

New Providence Police Surveillance Software Has Civil Liberties Groups Asking “Who’s Watching?” Inside Providence’s new Real Time Crime Center, blue lights illuminate a dark room filled with desks holding computer monitors and a wall covered in screens. The screens reveal a map of the city cover...

In operation since mid-August, investigators say the citywide surveillance inside the Real Time Crime Center provides rapid response times and investigation turnarounds. Critics argue that the system puts local policing on the fast track towards dystopian monitoring.

Protecting Our Waterways: From Geese to Garden Runoff, How Local Actions Make a Difference The Stormwater Innovation Center (SIC)’s recent “Rain Harvest Festival,” a vibrant celebration of science, art, environmental stewardship, and water awareness highlighted stormwater challenges and way...

At the Stormwater Innovation Center's recent Rain Harvest Festival, attendees learned to avoid feeding the geese, recycle plastic bags, and grow native gardens which can help not only the local watershed, but also the health of puffins 130 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.

New Readers' Voices installment from Jill Davidson in a series featuring articles from the Ward 2 City Council Candidates:

City Council Ordinance to Ban Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers Goes to Final Vote A long goodbye is underway in Providence for gas-powered leaf blowers. The controversial lawn equipment is considered an environmental risk because of the noise pollution and the toxic emissions creat...

A long goodbye is underway in #PVD for gas-powered leaf blowers.

The amended ordinance from City Council's Special Committee for Environment and Resilience aims to phase out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, citing their environmental risk, and will go to a final vote Thursday, October 16.

Projected Sea Levels and the Providence Riverwalk The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released data tracking rising sea levels and coastal floodings in the Providence area. As global warming continues to drive extreme weather c...

As global warming continues to drive extreme weather conditions—notably causing an upsurge in rainfalls and flash floods—NOAA estimates that the mean water level in recent years will be virtually tripled by 2050.

The Art of Resistance: Providence Area Feminist Creators Are Building Power and Community Famously part of the “Blue Wall,” Rhode Island is known for its stalwart Democratic history. Now, along with most of the rest of New England, the Ocean State is experiencing [...]

In the face of recent policy shifts by the Trump administration to walk back federally protected reproductive rights, abortion access, and legal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, a coalition of Providence-area feminist organizations are standing up through creative, community-focused programming.