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Playing at Mayoral Inauguration Weekend
In celebration of the inauguration of Mayor-elect Elorza, Providence Children's Museum hosted a resource fair of Providence-based arts/education nonprofit organizations on Sunday, January 4 from Noon - 3:00 PM; admission was free all day. PlayCorps leader, Casey Acacia (also of Circus Dynamics) provided playful activities that included: hoop games and flag spinning; make your own Juggling "squish ball" using baking soda, balloons, and a funnel; building structures using recycled materials; crafting with beads and string; instrument making; and more! Thank you to the Providence Children's Museum for organizing this event. Thank you to Casey for the great activities!
Robbins de Beaumont Foundation Grant
We are so grateful to the Robbins de Beaumont Foundation for the generous grant to develop phase II of programming and amenities at Father Lennon Park/aka Camden Ave Park in Smith Hill. We are excited to work with our community partners and the Parks Department to make the vision of the friends of Camden Park a reality, including a very cool play structure for youth designed by Jonathan Montalbano of RI Parkour.
2015 BlueAngel Community Health Grant
The Partnership for Providence Parks is thrilled to be selected as a recipient of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island 2015 BlueAngel Community Health grant program for Providence PlayCorps. The Partnership for Providence Parks will work in collaboration with the City of Providence’s Healthy Communities Office, Department of Parks & Recreation, and Providence Children’s Museum to build upon the successes of their PlayCorps program, offered in low-income Providence neighborhood parks in summer 2014 in conjunction with the free summer meals program. PlayCorps encourages unstructured play and family use of parks, fosters safe neighborhoods, and nourishes children with healthy meals through the summer months. Over 1,000 youth are expected to benefit from PlayCorps this summer.
Nelson Foundation Grant
Thank you to the Nelson Foundation for the grant to support our 2015 PlayCorps initiative. This generous gift will allow us to provide healthy play and healthy meals to more children throughout Providence.
Providence Urban Refuge Partnership Update
April Alix, Conservation and Education Coordinator
This December, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Providence Parks Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership were honored to host tours of our National and Urban Wildlife Refuges for members of China’s State Forestry Administration from Beijing, China. After touring the beautiful Sachuest Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, RI, the delegates spent their Friday morning touring Providence and learning about the great work being done by all our partners. We were able to meet Ray Allsworth's 4th grade students from D'Abate Elementary, who spoke about their research and observations they've done at Riverside Park. Ray was able to discuss the importance of the Teacher Institute and how it has helped to expand his curriculum to include outdoor activities at the park. We then spent some time at Riverside Park where some of our partners, including RI Dept. of Environmental Management and The Nature Conservancy, were able to speak about the conservation and education efforts being put forth in many of the Providence parks. Our visitors were so impressed by our efforts and, in particular, commented on how amazed they were by the abundance of volunteerism we have. It was a wonderful experience! I was also able to join in on a new afterschool program at the Vincent Brown Recreation Center where I hosted a program all about bugs! The participants learned the differences between insects and non-insect bugs and even made some fun, decorative bugs for the holidays!
3rd Annual Winter Parks Academy 2015 Schedule
We are excited to offer some past favorites with our community partners: Managing volunteers/Serve RI; Oral Histories/Alyssa Biolchini; Grant Writing and Fund Development/Rhode Island Foundation; Urban Refuges/USFWS; Planning a Neighborhood Performing Art Event/AC+T; and more! We will also have a couple of new workshops that have been requested by our park and tree volunteers. Early registration and schedule here. Please forward to any organization that could benefit from workshops.
Providence Park Superintendent Position
Please spread the word that Providence is looking for a new Superintendent of Parks. The Superintendent is responsible for managing the Providence Park and Recreation system by providing vision, leadership, and inspiration to park staff, park users, and park supporters. Interested applicants should submit a resume, cover letter, and three (3) references. More details here.
SAVE THE DATES
- February (school vacation week), TBA Jax Ribbon Cutting and Playful Winter at Bucklin Park
- 3rd Annual Earth Day Spring Cleaning will be Saturday, April 25, 2015
- 3rd Annual Pop-Up Play Day will be at Roger Williams Park on Saturday, June 20, 2015
- 3rd Annual Color Run will be Sunday, September 27th. Volunteer opportunities available for 25th-27th
Past Newsletters
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August News 2014
July News 2014
June News 2014
May News 2014
April News 2014
March News 2014
February News 2014
January News 2014
December News 2013
November News 2013
October News 2013
September News 2013
August News 2013
July News 2013
May June 2013
March April 2013
Winter 2013
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, audio/visual equipment, 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 is a city-wide public/private non-profit 501(C)3, in collaboration with the Parks Department, 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.
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