Partnership for Providence Parks May News 2014

Providence Earth Day Spring Cleaning 2014

Thank you to all of the Park Friends, conservancies, sports teams, artists, recreation centers, and neighborhood organizations for hosting Earth Day events! So many events went on despite the bone-chilling cold, others were rescheduled until the weather was more cooperative, but all in all, Providence sparkles! More pics can be found on Facebook.
Earth Day Spring Cleaning is brought to you by: The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, The Department of Parks and Recreation, and The Partnership for Providence Parks, along with Providence Neighborhood Planting Partnership, Serve Rhode Island, Whole Foods, USFWS Urban Refuge Partnership, Johnson and Wales University, Energy Source, Ecosystem Restorations, WBRU, YMCA, RIPTA, and many other sponsors listed at www.providenceparks.org

Winter Workshops on Fund Development and Play

Thank you to The Rhode Island Foundation and Jill Pfitzenmayer for the excellent workshop on fund development and grant writing. Thank you to Providence Children's Museum and Janice O'Donnell, as well as Fargnoli Park's play guru, Alyssa Biolchini for a great workshop on promoting play in your park.

Providence Parks and Recreation Has a New Logo

The process started with Sarah Lister and Ryland M. Grudzinski as part of a Digital Media Solutions class at JWU. Sarah and Ryland helped the Parks Department create a vision for the new logo. Molly Regan at Logica Design created the final piece of art. We love it and hope you do too. We also love the new header on our newsletter that Molly designed (Molly is the genius behind the Partnership logo and Friends of Brown Street Park's iconic logo).

PlayCorps in Parks

We are seeking to hire interns for the PlayCorps pilot program at 5 Providence parks. if you are interested in applying or learning more, contact info@providenceparks.org or visit the Partnership website for application.

The Artball is going to TEDx

The giant holiday ball made by visual artist Nina Bovasso and embedded in our city's annual Tree Lighting at The Providence Rink at The Bank of America City Center is being installed at TEDx Navesink 2014 which focuses on play and "the surprising ways that play is a positive force in our lives" (tedxnavesink/play). The Artball was curated by Helene Miller for the annual Artball Prize offered by Children's Museum of the Arts, NYC; recommissioned by Partnership for Providence Parks to celebrate playful fun in our city's parks.

Partnership Honored at Children's Museum Gala

The Partnership is grateful to Providence Children's Museum for honoring our work. Thank you to all our friends who came out to celebrate and the Partnership Board for all the work they do behind the scenes to make our parks great places for children and families.

Neighborhood Performing Arts Series

In collaboration with Mayor Angel Taveras, the Department of Art, Culture + Tourism and the Parks Department, we are looking forward to a summer of play and performing arts with Celebrate Providence! Neighborhood Performing Arts: Smaller Sights and Sounds. Look for summer events hosted by: Friends of Paterson Park, Blackstone Parks Conservancy, Friends of Viscolosi Park, Friends of Peace & Plenty Park, Father Lennon Park (Camden Street Park Friends), and Friends of Corliss Park.
Also, congratulations to those organizations that will be hosting the larger, Celebrate Providence! Neighborhood Performing Arts Initiative in their community parks: Opera Providence, Elmhurst Clean & Green, West Elmwood Housing, West Broadway Neighborhood Association, Oasis International, Friends of Brown Street Park, ECAS Theatre, Summit Neighborhood Association, Providence Children’s Museum, and the Providence Children’s Initiative.

Get Moving in Your Park!

Want to have a fitness class in your park? Contact Christy Clausen for more details and get your neighborhood moving!

Welcome Summer Interns

We are thrilled to have two Brown University students interning with us this summer. Sam Lanier is an I-PROV Intern through the Swearer Center and will be working on all arts related activities for the Partnership. We are also excited to have Anna Plumlee as a gardener in residence at Fr. Lennon (Camden) Park and at Corliss Park

Providence Parks Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership Designation Ceremony

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Providence Parks & Recreation Department and Partnership for Providence Parks held the Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership Designation Ceremony on May 5th at Riverside Park.

Governor Lincoln D. Chafee, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Janet Coit, RIDEM Director, Congressmen James Langevin, Dan Ashe, USFWS Director, Councilwoman, Sabina Matos, and many other conservation partners attended the event. The Wheeler Middle School Jazz Band provided the music. Students from the Paul Cuffee School and the D'Abate School read poems and participated in conservation education activities. Many thanks to the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council for hosting and leading events, and to Urban Pond Procession, Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy, Blackstone Parks Conservancy, and Cambden Park Friends for sharing how they are connecting urban Providence with wildlife and wildlife habitat.

See What’s Happening at Camden Park (Fr. Lennon)

Come to the Community Build on Saturday, May 31st from 10am 3 pm. We will be building a fence around the community garden and we could use your help! Sign up for a Rhode Island Street Workout or Parkour Rhode Island Class. Classes begin in the park on Saturday, May 3rd at 10 and will run through the summer. Drop in for a great workout! Garden plots will be available to neighborhood residents starting this spring. New and experienced gardeners are welcome! Come learn how to grow or teach others. All are welcome. For more information, please contact Griffin Rouse at the Smith Hill Community Development Corporation, 401-521-0159 or grouse@smithhillcdc.org.

Save the Dates

The month of April was extra busy with lots to do and spring right around the corner! I had a great opportunity to work with a group of AmeriCorps members from the Ocean State Environmental Education Collaborative leading a workshop on the benefits of using public parks as outdoor classrooms. These AmeriCorps members are serving the community as environmental educators at Roger Williams Park Zoo, Norman Bird Sanctuary, Save the Bay and the Audubon Society of Rhode Island. They strive to bring a much needed perspective of outdoor education to many classroom and after-school lessons. We hiked around Roger Williams Park and Neutaconkanut Hill discussing the importance of public parks and how they serve as a safe and comfortable setting for introducing outdoor education to urban youth. The other big event for the month was Earth Day! I have been working with a dynamic group of 4^th graders at the Paul Cuffee School who have taken a special interest in Neutaconkanut Hill. They were very upset by all the trash they found while hiking on the trails during a school trip and took it upon themselves to create the Neutaconkanut Conservancy Investigators. On Earth Day, these students geared up with gloves, trash bags and data sheets and collected not just trash, but also date on what types of trash they were finding in the park! They collected over 330 pieces of trash and discussed how they could prevent litter at the park. They will be creating signs to be displayed at the park encouraging visitors to take their trash out with them when they leave in order to keep the Hill clean!

Send us your news
Let us know by the first of the month if you have any news you would like to share in our monthly newsletter.

Past Newsletters

February News
March News 2014
April News 2014

Partnership Office is Open
The Partnership office is open at 11 West Drive. If you need meeting space, a place to archive your group's materials, a copier, or would like to borrow some pop-up play materials, contact Wendy at wendy@providenceparks.org.

Google Groups
Our tech Guru, Geoff Meek has set up a Google group so that we can chat directly with each other. Our discussion groups are here.
You will need:
- An account with Google (Gmail, etc.)
- To request membership to the Partnership for Providence Parks group.
Once your membership is accepted (takes about 1/2 day), simply respond to one of the existing topics, or click the "New Topic" button at the top of the screen.
Using groups is just like using email, with the benefit that all members can view and respond to your messages. The group is also searchable, so you can find out what has been discussed in the past.
If you haven't signed up yet, or are having trouble with it, let Wendy know.

Facebook
Keep sending us your events and pics so we can post them. Oh..please LIKE and FRIEND us. There are some great pics up now of park events and stories in the news. http://www.facebook.com/PartnershipForProvidenceParks

Grants Available
New England Grass Roots Environmental Fund
If you have or haven't applied for a grant through the New England Grass Roots Fund (NEGEF) www.grassrootfund.org you may want to check them out. They are a great first grant to apply for. I am happy to walk anyone through this process. Seed grants are available for new groups and Grow grants for more established groups who may have already received funding from NEGEF. Go for it!

The Partnership
The Partnership for Providence Parks is a new initiative of the Providence Department of Parks and Recreation. The Partnership is a city-wide public/private non-profit 501(C)3 geared toward helping residents and community partners help our parks be active, vibrant, healthy, playful and unique places.
To learn more about the Partnership, please visit www.Providenceparks.org.