South Providence is no prairie, but leaders of the economically depressed neighborhood's redevelopment are the city's own frontiersmen. The construction of a $40 million health center at the site of the Federated Lithographers building, located at 369 Prairie Ave., leads the initiative, which over 35 developers, community leaders and larger stakeholders - including the University - have joined.
According to Darrell Lee of BCOG Planning Associates, 30 percent is "a very conservative" estimate for the unemployment rate in South Providence, while 20 percent of South Providence residents are homeowners. 70 percent of children in the area live below the poverty line, according to Lee.
The Prairie Avenue Revitalization Initiative - first created in January 2005 by a developer working for Providence Community Health Centers and two city council members - hopes to revive South Providence by creating new jobs and providing job training, according to Lee, who spearheaded the initiative. At the same time, community leaders have been meeting in recent months to unite separate projects in the area so that all the groups invested in the redevelopment can collaborate.
When his client, PCHC, began plans in September of 2003 to invest in a health center and commercial and retail complex at the Federated Lithographers building site, Lee said he suggested that the millions of dollars would be best spent if the larger community could benefit - not only those working in the center. Upon its completion in 2008, the center will receive a projected 100,000 visits each year.
By providing job training and helping small businesses take advantage of visitors to the health center and complex, both South Providence and PCHC will benefit, Lee said.
In January 2005, Lee took his concept for the initiative to Ward 11 Councilwoman Balbina Young and Ward 10 Councilman Luis Aponte. The PCHC redevelopment needed stakeholders to invest in "brick and mortar development" as well as "human capital," according to Lee.
In September 2005, Rhode Island Hospital and the Women and Infants Hospital, both of which are within half a mile of the Federated Lithographers building site, agreed to take part in the initiative, according to Aponte. When Lee, Aponte and Young realized that "local landowners had an interest in developing but didn't have a relationship with banks," they asked Bank of America and Sovereign Bank to consider community members' needs, Aponte said. Eventually, the Providence Department of Planning and Development, the State Department of Labor and Training and the Urban League joined, among others, Lee said.
"We're pulling together all the different things that are happening and trying to identify how those can be pulled into one major program," said Thomas Deller, director of the city's planning department, who became involved in the initiative as a representative for Mayor David Cicilline '83 in March. The planning department will provide financial backing as well as guidance on how to proceed with the redevelopment, Deller said.
Developers in the area should come together to discuss their work because of their close proximity to each other, Aponte said, if only to determine how extra traffic in the area should be handled.
Meetings between community leaders and developers will ease some of the tension that comes with commercial redevelopment in any part of a city, Deller said, because residents will be able to make their concerns heard to developers and stakeholders.
The redevelopment of South Providence is distinctive, Aponte said, because participants plan to minimize the usual conflict between growing institutions and residents by facilitating a high level of communication.
"There's generally community opposition to expansion," Aponte said. "But this project is a rethinking of development philosophy ... that benefits the community."
To that end, the South Providence initiative will rely on local nonprofit organizations to train residents for jobs created by redevelopment, Aponte said. The Center for Minority Advancement in the Building Trades, located on Broad Street, has the development rights to parcels of land in the area. But in addition to contributing to South Providence's physical redevelopment, the center - which trains adults for construction jobs - employs those trainees at its own building sites. Representatives from the center will meet with local leaders involved in job training and "building human capacity," Aponte said, as well as with developers interested in the construction of buildings.
The Community College of Rhode Island will also play a dual role in the initiative. Representatives from CCRI will attend meetings where physical development is discussed because the college is near the new health center. In addition to meetings centered on job training, the college will support future adult literacy programs as well.
Brown's role in South ProvidenceInstitutional stakeholders in the redevelopment, such as Brown and Rhode Island Hospital, meet less regularly than developers and community leaders, according to Aponte. These institutions "make sure that work is being done and decisions are being made" but do not participate in the day-to-day aspects of the redevelopment, Aponte said, adding that these stakeholders are concerned with "loftier policies."
In March, President Ruth Simmons first pledged Brown's dedication to reviving South Providence at a press conference announcing the Prairie Avenue Revitalization Initiative. Rebecca Barnes, director of strategic growth, and Darrell Brown, director of state and community relations, have represented the University at several stakeholder meetings since then, according to Brown.
Barnes and Brown have participated in "discussion about long-term planning...(so that) stakeholders can come together to benefit the community through economic development and revitalization," Brown said. "(Simmons') desire to see the University play a tangible role in this is important," Lee said, adding that the University is a "major support." South Providence residents "believe that Brown has a responsibility to the greater community and are excited by the opportunity that Brown will in some way participate in the development itself," Aponte said.
Other institutions will provide more direct support to neighborhood residents, according to Lee. For example, nearby hospitals will provide training for South Providence high school students and adults looking to enter the health industry. In addition, Lee hopes to build the South Providence Academic and Career Education Center, a state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a centralized location for all forms of community education. Lee hopes students from nearby universities such as Brown, CCRI and Johnson and Wales University will come to the center to tutor high school students, while instructors from those universities could educate adults.
The name SPACE Center is significant, Lee added, because it brings to mind the achievement of astronauts in space, and he hopes to "empower" South Providence residents in the same way. "We can build beautiful things, but we will get change when we get the hearts and the minds of the community," Lee said.
