I hope you are having a nice Passover week, a meaningful Ramadan, a beautiful Spring or had a joyous Easter, a happy Cambodian New Year - whatever holiday or holidays you celebrate this time of year. My family had a small, but in-person, Passover seder with three friends; now that the kids are older, we ended up talking about the Passover story until nearly midnight! 

A few weeks ago, we went to the park to take some campaign photos. We met our photographer, Savannah Barkley when she was a RISD student and babysat the kids. It was lovely to catch up with her, and end up with nice and new photos - I'm sure you'll see more in the coming months. Also, I'm officially the shortest one in the family!

We are taking the week off from the legislative session, but that doesn't mean work has stopped. I've been working on the bill I introduced to provide a legal framework for e-bikes. You might have seen some coverage here, here and here. I have meetings this week to work out details and move the bill along. We will be joining a great majority of states who regulate e-bikes; it's time. 

Providence is proposing a pension obligation bond - read a little more here. There will be a special election in June for Providence to approve or vote down this proposal. There will be a series of community meetings to hear more from the city about the proposal and hear questions and comments from the community. I hope you will join me at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Nathan Bishop Middle School for a conversation about the proposed bond. All sessions, including a zoom on May 26, are here. I tend to support the proposal, but I'm also looking forward to hearing more from the city, and from constituents. What do you think? You can write to me, or come listen and talk at the meeting Thursday.

Next week starts out with a busy Monday.

First, at 5:30, there will be a community conversation about Providence Schools, hosted by Gabe Mernoff and school board member Ty'Relle Stephens. The agenda includes a conversation about the appointment of Dr. Montañez as PPSD superintendent; this decision was made without community input. I'm thrilled that Dr. Montañez is our super intended! And I also wish the process had been open to community input. The more we include the community in our schools the better (and community input and transparence are two fo the promises of the Turn Around Plan). I'm looking onward to hearing from the community, and hope you'll consider joining in the conversation. Here's the link.  

Then at 7 p.m. Monday, the Summit Neighborhood Association has its annual meeting, link here.

I'm looking forward to sitting in my zoom corner and joining both these meetings on Monday; hope to see you there!

I ran to be your State Representative to connect constituents with our government. I know that government does a better job when more people are paying attention and participating. Before I was elected, I was connecting us to our government as an advocate for women's rights and for healthcare access. I get to keep connecting now as a State Rep. This is my favorite part of the job!

I've scheduled some times for coffees and conversation. Please stop by and say hi!

May 4, 10 a.m., Seven Stars (outside, weather permitting)
May 18, 10 a.m., Three Sisters (outside, weather permitting)

As always, please let me know what you think, by e-mail, phone or at one of my community conversations (see above). Also, please follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or write to me at info@rebeccakislak.com. You can also call or text me at 401-400-2338. I look forward to hearing from you!