The Community Congress

Exciting News!

2009-04-02T13:32:00.007-04:00

Spring Health Fair:

Free health screenings from Chad Brown Health Center!

Face-painting and races for the children

When? Saturday, April 4

What time? 10am- 2pm

Where? Prete Metcalf Field on Hawkins St.
Across from Mariani Funeral Home

Sponsored by Councilman Nick Narducci & Chad Brown Health Center

Erasing and Defacing Initiative:

Smith Hill Community Development Corporation and our partners Mt. Pleasant Hardware, Pittsburg Paints and the City of Providence are proud to announce the launching of our exciting Erasing the Defacing initiative at a Press Conference on Monday, April 6th at 11:30 on 354 Smith St., next door to the Capital City Diner and Post Office. Erasing the Defacing will provide residents and business owners in the Smith Hill and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods free, color-matched paint to cover tagging and graffiti on their property.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.smithhillcdc.org/erasing-the-defacing

Help us to spread the word about this unique anti-graffiti campaign!

Next Congress Meeting:

When? Wednesday, April 15

What time? 12:00 PM

Where? TBD

Next meeting of the Community Congress

2009-03-05T12:23:00.001-05:00

When? March 18, 2009

What time? 12:00 pm

Where? Providence College, Feinstein Building Room 407 (rather than the usual meeting place in room 403)

We hope to see you there! Bring your friends, neighbors, ideas and concerns!

Minutes from January 21, 2009 Congress Meeting

2009-02-06T08:47:00.003-05:00

Community Congress Meeting
Providence College – Feinstein Institute
January 21, 2009, 12:00 p.m.

I.Greetings and Salutations

II.Appointment of Secretary – Nicole Kenney

III.Old Business
A.Approval of last month’s minutes

B.Selection of representatives for neighborhoods
o Smith Hill Area – Ms. Althea Graves
o Chad Brown - Tom Cotter and Jennifer Eberle
Will work on finding new directions to recruit new community members to build relationships
o Elmhurst discussion of possible point people, will consult with Sue Viau for suggestions and involvement

C.Smith Hill Library Update from Ms. Althea Graves and Allen Gunther
o Friends of the Smith Hill Library Meeting 1/26 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Smith Hill Library
o Providence Public Library has stated they will potentially close five of the nine small branches, leaving four branches and the Providence Central Library open
• Smith Hill Library is one of the libraries at risk to be closed
o Providence Community Library (PCL) Organization has been formed in response to potential closings with the goal to find a solution to keep all branches open
• Visit ProvidenceCommunityLibrary.org for more information and to sign a petition to go to Mayer and city council
o Providence Community Library Organization has proposed a plan for the nine public libraries to concede from the Providence Public Library
• State funding and funding which was designated to branches available to support breakaway
• 10 City Councilmen are in support which is how many are needed to pass vote
o Descision if nine branches will concede from the Providence Public Library and function under the Providence Community Library organization must be made by March 1, 2009.

D. Tom Twitchell Tree Planning
o Two plantings are planned, one in spring and one in fall
• Spring planning proposed to take place either March 28th or April 18th (Final date will be posted on blog when determined)
o Volunteers are needed to adopt a tree to care for it
o Proposed planting sites:
• Jewett street, Orms Street, Duke Street, Esten street, Candace Street, Goddard Street
o For more information contact Rebecca Twitchell rtwichell@hotmail.com for more information.

o Elmhurst Clean and Greet Update from Sue Viau and CDC Director
o Next monthly meeting on Tuesday 2/3 7:00 – 9:00 pm at the Feinstein Institute
o Elmhurst Clean and Green is not limiting their involvement to the Elmhurst area
o In April groundwork can begin for community garden plots
o On April 25th will be a clean-up service day sponsored by P.C. Service Board
• P.C. Service Board is a collaborative of all service groups on campus
o Smith Hill CDC and Groundworks supporting Elmhurst Clean and Green to in order to be supported by a 501(C)3 organization so Elmhurst Clean and Green can apply for grants.
o Davis Park (near Nathaniel Green School) revitalization is Elmhurst Clean and Green main focus which will begin in May or June
• Will create more green space, community garden and potential for famers market
• Initiative developed out of increased violence in the park this past summer
o Smith Hill CDC has proposed Community Congresses and/or Providence College students involvement in applying for the Clean and Healthy Living Grant from the Rohde Island Foundation which can be used for Davis Park
• Grant would allow potential to add a play ground to the park
• Grant deadline February 27th
• Ellen Salvatore has information about the grant, contact her for involvement, esalvatr@providence.edu

E. Cemetery Update from Griffin Rouse
o Plans successfully moving forth for ivy planting and head stone restoration
o Dioceses agreed to be a member of the committee which is made up of local organizations
o Proposal will be submitted to bishops and arch dioceses
o Fundraising will be planed in to ensure the project can continue in the future

F. Logo Design
o Smith Hill Library youth and students will participate in logo competition
o Tom Cotter and Allen Gunther will develop competition at the library

IV. New Business
A. Community Congress Day
o Looking to organize a Community Congress Day or a clean-up featuring organizations and assets from each of the three communities
o Logo reveal could take place

B. Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence
o Alyssa Metthe, VISTA at the Institute, spoke about three part, thirty hour, Nonviolence Training-of-Trainers session
o Training talking place at Providence College February 7 -8, February 28 – March 1 and March 21 -22.
o Application information will be mailed out to congress members
o For any further questions about training or the Institute contact Alyssa Metthe Alyssa@nonviolenceinstitute.org

Next Meetings:

Meeting Adjourned 1:30 p.m.

Urgent News about Branch Libraries

2009-01-27T12:23:00.003-05:00

Make your voice heard:

A crucial public forum on the future of the 9 branch libraries will be held on: Wednesday, February 4 at 6PM at the Smith Hill Library, 31 Candace St.

There will be representatives from the newly formed Providence Community Library, the PPL (Providence Public Library) and the Providence City Council.

This is a very important meeting. Show your support for the Smith Hill Branch. Come to this meeting and let everyone know how important our branch libraries are to our communities. Tell your friends and neighbors and bring them with you.

Next meeting of the Community Congress

2009-01-23T13:14:00.002-05:00

When? Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What time? 6:00 PM

Where? The Smith Hill Library

Agenda January 21, 2009

2009-01-21T10:59:00.002-05:00

Community Congress Agenda January 21, 2009

Appointment of Acting Secretary
Approval of Minutes of November 19, 2008 meeting

Old Business
Selection of representatives for:
Smith Hill
Elmhurst
Chad Brown
Library Update—Althea Graves and Alan Gunther
Tree planting in memory of Tom Twitchell—Ellen Salvatore
Elmhurst Clean and Green Report—Sue Viau
Cemetery Update--Griffin Rouse
Logo design—Ellen Salvatore
Committee assignments/volunteers—Ellen Salvatore
Future of Congress—all

New Business

Next meeting of the Community Congress

2008-12-05T11:13:00.001-05:00

When? January 21, 2009

What time? 12:00 pm

Where? Providence College, Feinstein Building Room 403

Minutes from the November 19th Meeting

2008-12-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

Community Congress Meeting
Smith Hill Library
November 19, 2008
6:00 PM

Attendance:
Julianne Brown – Senior PSP Minor, 202 class member
Grace Burke – Sophomore PSP Major
Jennifer Eberle - PSP Major
Meg Glynn – Senior PSP Minor, 202 class member
Allen Gunther – Smith Hill Library
Meg Haswell – Sophomore, 202 class member
Samantha Landry – Sophomore PSP Major, 202 class member
Louie Ornstein – PC Feinstein Community Faculty
Carmine Perrotti – Sophomore PSP Major, 202 class member
Griffin Rouse – PC Grad, Smith Hill Resident
Richard Strickland – Smith Hill Crime watch, resident
Sue Viau – Feinstein office manager, Elmhurst Clean and Green, resident

I. Greeting and Salutations
II. Old Business
No minutes from last meeting at Providence College with Edmund
No December meeting
PSP 202 – Reports from student committees/present committee meeting schedules
Students went to polling sites on Election Day and Veazie St. School Fall Fair to do outreach/recruiting for the Congress.

Meeting Committee
Helped set up Congress meetings, location, scheduling, etc.

Membership Committee
Mass emails and created an active vs. an inactive member group list.
Updated new membership list with new fields such as organization affiliation, address, place of work, etc.
New email address set up through Google account.

Community Outreach Committee
Carmine and Nicole created a brochure/informational pamphlet.
Steve, Dave, and Jess have been working on contacting local newspapers for advertising, local events, etc.

Blog/Website Committee
Sam and Christine have been updating the site including mission statement and an upcoming calendar with events.

Elmhurst Clean and Green Report
Many groups from PC attended the clean up on 10/25 including the environmental club and the Admissions Ambassadors
Unfortunately, there was no set agenda with Nathaniel Greene. Many of its middle school students attended because they received extra credit.
Very disorganized and had to be conscious of the kids – no chaperones form the school attended.
Ultimately successful because of community involvement.
Providence Groundworks offered extra supplies for future clean-ups.
Next meeting for Elmhurst Clean and Green – 12/2/08
Planning for Davis Park renovation is in progress which will include a community garden, a farmer’s market, and a new playground.
Grant writing for playground is in the works. Any ideas? The Providence Parks Dept. has been attending the meetings for community input in exchange for grant searching.
Flowers were planted at the cross of Eaton St. and Smith St. (near LaSalle)

Cemetery Wall Update
In progress of getting Diocese approval for headstone restoration. Training for this is already set up.
Griffin is taking the lead.

III. New Business – “The Future” of the Congress

Discussed points of concern and alternative options for the Congress Finalize discussion and decisions made at January meeting
Still having difficulty finding a Congress Rep. from Chad Brown

Questions of discussion:
1. Will we become an organization of organizations?
2. Will the Congress continue? (No longer PSP 202 students)
At least 4 people are needed to fulfill and lead the new Congress structure
3. Should we have a Congress open house to bring residents in?- If so, what will potential members be joining for?
There is no main focal point for the Congress. We need to find a common rally point! (Is this even possible?)
Cultural Barriers – “Family First” for many minority groups.
Why would Hispanics/African Americans/Asian families come to these meetings?
4. Should we do a mass mailing or posting of informational flyers?
5. How can we efficiently address the language barrier between the communities?
Especially Chad Brown and Smith Hill?

NEXT MEETING: JANUARY 21, 2009 @ NOON – Feinstein Community Room

Meeting adjourned at 7:20 PM.

2008-11-16T15:16:00.001-05:00

COMMUNITY CONGRESS

MEETING

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

6:00pm

Smith Hill Branch Library

AGENDA

1. Greetings and Salutations

2. Old Business

*PSP 202 - reports from student committees present

committee meeting schedule

*Report - Elmhurst Clean and Green, Fall clean-up

*Update - Cemetery Wall

*Gardening Efforts

*Recruiting Efforts - Veazie St. School Fall Fair & Polls on 11/4

3. New Business

*The Future"

4. Next Meeting

5. Adjourn

2008-11-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

The next Community Congress meeting will be at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, November 19th at the Smith Hill Library!

Upcoming Events

2008-10-20T22:14:00.002-04:00

Here are a few events coming up that you might all be interested in:

10/22 Smith Hill Library Bake and Book Sale, 5-8pm. Community Congress will have a table with information and a survey.

10/30 Veazie Street School, Fall Family Festival, 5-8pm. "

11/4 Community Congress brochures will be distributed at : Tavares Center, St. Pius, Kizirian School, Carroll Towers

Make sure you check out these different venues and become involved in the Community Congress!

Back in Action !!!

2008-09-19T15:15:00.009-04:00

After a very outdoor intense summer surrounded by plants and dirt, the fall academic/work year begins. Many of our members are now switching gears. With school starting, Providence students and faculty are very interested in again becoming more involved with the Community Congress.

Ellen's public service class will be getting hands on knowledge on how to work with a community organization. (Sam and Christine will be working exclusively on the Blog and possibly on the website)

But at the same time we have all been discussing with the Feinstein Institute of standing on our own two feet and working more autonomously. This is a time of transition for our little group. I hope you are all looking forward to the tasks ahead of us !

There has been an e-mail sent out to all of the Community Congress members about the next meeting which is (tentatively) Wed. Oct 1 at Noon. Location TBA.
Please leave a comment or send an e-mail if you would like to meet at another date or if you would like the meeting to be hosted at your site.

Thanks again to Sam and Christine and we all look forward to what you're going to do with the site [Good work on that poll].

Each One, Teach One

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Now playing: The Postal Service - Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Flaming Lips Cover)
via FoxyTunes

Weeding in the Sun

2008-07-31T10:06:00.000-04:00

Working in the yard is hard work. But having young, willing, and able bodied teens makes it easy to sit back and just let them do all the work. This is about the third or fourth day of working outside to build up the Chad Brown Garden. By this time we have begun turning over some of the soil nearest the wall and weeded a portion of the edge. Later videos and photos will show our latest progress in this very rich looking soil!

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Now playing: Portishead - Sour Sour Times
via FoxyTunes

2008-07-30T22:42:00.001-04:00

As you can tell, we are all gearing up to begin a quick clean up and some more weeding. The lot is in a particularly bad spot for littering. Much of the litter is blown in from the surrounding area. Hopefully putting up a fence will reduce the amount of litter blowing onto the land.

It's Still Pizza Time !!!

2008-07-30T22:32:00.001-04:00

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Now playing: Tokyo Police Club - Nursery Academy
via FoxyTunes

It's Pizza Time !!!!

2008-07-30T22:23:00.002-04:00

This is one of the sloppiest and tastiest day of all !!!

As you can see we made two different pizzas to get a range of flavors. Our first pizza didn;t require much as it was a basil and tomato pizza. But the second pizza was made up of yellow and orange peppers with some oregeno thrown on top. Both pizzas came out spectacular and were eaten in about 10 seconds flat . Now our kids know how their pizza is made. But more importantly they know they can make it themselves and how much better organic taste!!!

Holy Guaca-mole!!!

2008-07-16T11:34:00.001-04:00

See Us in Motion!!

2008-07-16T11:27:00.001-04:00

Here is our watering efforts shot in real life!

You are looking at our very own Joel and company watering at the St. Patrick's Cemetery. Joel in particular "doesn't like cemetery" and we respect that. But he still had to grab a watering can. Both the councilors and our very own camper superstar Alanna, learned how important watering is for the life cycle of plants. You can steadily see the progression of the plants over the weeks of watering them.

They'll need to learn about watering if they ever hope to grow anything!!

Smooth Sailing

2008-07-16T11:08:00.000-04:00

As of yesterday there have been three days of the intensive gardening program. The third day was filled with some elbow grease but the satisfaction of a job well done.

Yesterday's lesson consisted of watering and making guacamole. I'm sensing a trend of preparing food and eating it. Much of the day was spent setting up a very lengthy hose and watering can system to water all 700 ft. of Cosmos and Geraniums along the Douglas Ave wall.

This required a lot of team work and a bit of effort. This was a practice run of learning how to water in preparation for the challenging hose position at the Chad Brown Market. While these hoses were all in a straight line, the garden's water source is on the opposite side of the store and requires going through a substantial amount of brush.

We'll see our staff and community partners rise to the occasion !
(I hope)

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Now playing: The Postal Service - Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Flaming Lips Cover)
via FoxyTunes

We're Getting a Big Head

2008-07-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

Picture care of Organic on the Greeen

Hello Grassroots Faithfuls,

The recent explosion in publicity has my head spinning. First there was the Catholic RI article, and then the Flicr account and now this lovely blog from our fellow Environmental Warrior, Kerry Bergin and her contributing blog Organic on the Green ! We're getting"props" all over the place. It's hard to escape our work out there in the community. Read over the blog and trace the steps of our project from empty lot to growing bed.

In order for us to keep all this momentum going it's important that we get out there and really sustain what we've begun. Garden's need work and flowers need watering. Let's keep it green ourselves this summer. Remember: any time after 5 in the afternoon is a great time to water the S. Patrick's Cemetery plants, as it is cooler in the day and the moisture will stay in the ground. Tues and Thurs are the intensive days for the garden. Come down and meet the kids working on the garden and lend a hand!

Let's keep up the good work.

~Edmund

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Now playing: Blue 6 - Love Yourself
via FoxyTunes

Hot Garden Days

2008-07-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

Day two of the PASA gardening saw a lot of productive activities for both the lessons and the garden! We're done for the day and bushed !

With our faithful crew we went out to the gardening site and began some preemptive weeding and edging of the garden. The side nearest the market looks better than ever from just a little bit of weeding.

Afterwards we decided to do some cooking! Salsa is an easy way to integrate organic food into a basic lesson about where our food products come from. The students could relate to where their store brought salsa actually came from. They now know that they don;t need to go to the store to make their favorite Plus the best part is eating it!!

Summer Garden Fun

2008-07-10T11:22:00.001-04:00

Today marks the second day of the intensive for the Community Garden and PASA. The students are currently in middle school and have signed up for the project through PASA's summer programming.

The first day included a review of what a community garden is, why it is important, where our food comes from, what GMO's are, and what they're favorite veggies are.

Eventually after a bit of discussion we all traveled down to the site of the garden and reviewed what wee would have to do and how the garden would look when we where done with it. Then we had a quick clean up of the lot.

After some discussion about possible mural ideas the day was over.

We'll have to see what today holds for our young gardeners!

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Now playing: Lily Allen - Friend Of Mine
via FoxyTunes

Gothic Vision

2008-07-07T13:34:00.001-04:00

For those of you scared of ghost, cemeteries, and zombies read on no further.

For everyone else check out our latest project! The Revitalization of the St. Patrick's Cemetery Wall. This big thinking project started out as a small idea to spruce up the Douglas Ave. At first the Community Congress thought that the wall could be painted a base color and then have either a mural or a "Welcome to Smith Hill/ Chad Brown" slogan stretch across both Douglas Ave. and Chad Brown St.

After some deliberation one of the members suggested putting in plants instead because they 1) would require less maintenance 2) wouldn't attract graffiti.

The rest of the Congress agreed and so we went on to create a proposal to present to the Arch Diocese. With the Arch-Diocese on board the Congress went about the dirty business of ordering the plants. But of course nothing ever goes according to plans.

With the constant guidance of Frey Flowers the Community Congress tried to order Nasturtiums, Comos, and Hanging Ivies but most plants by this time had been sold out by the whole sellers. There was a possibility though that we could get Geraniums and Cosmos. And so we went ahead with the planting intending to plant the annuals later in the fall and spring.

And so *viola* there you have a collection of planting pictures! Look at how hard professors, students, environmental group members, and of course Community Congress people work together. Check the Flickr website for more pictures !!!

Check out our Flickr account

2008-07-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

If you check out our newly created Flickr account you'll see exactly who we are and what we do. We have past events up on the photostream, like the 2007 clean up we did in the neighborhood. But we also have our works in progress like the Chad Brown Community Garden and the St. Pat's Cemetery Wall Revitalization.

Look out for further developments and pics of the hard working Communty Congress!!!!

The Community Congress Mission and Vision Statement

2008-07-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

Community Congress

Mission Statement

The mission of the Community Congress is to bridge and strengthen the Chad Brown/Smith Hill/ Elmhurst neighborhoods through open forums, community projects and collaborative partnerships. With this mission comes a commitment to utilize community assets to improve the neighborhoods in which we live, work, study, worship and play.

Vision Statement

Our neighborhoods are rich in resources ready and waiting to be developed further. We envision a community that celebrates its diverse ethnic groups and cultures, sharing our art, music, food, language, dance, cultural, and religious traditions. We see schools, public, charter, and private, working together to educate our children, adolescents, and adults. We see neighborhoods in which the variety of non-profit, health, religious, and educational organizations collaborate together and listen to the voices of the residents. We see our libraries as resources and centers for the community. We envision community education programs which help immigrants to learn English and improve their education and employment opportunities. We envision a community with parks, community centers, and recreational programs for all ages. We envision a vibrant economic community, with a variety of small businesses which serve the diverse populations of our neighborhoods as well as a more developed economic infrastructure which includes access to banking, credit, and retail development. We see a community with expanded affordable housing. Building on our existing assets, we envision a community that is healthy and safe for all. Increased civic engagement and participation will allow us to shape our future. We seek to develop bridges between our neighborhoods and down city so that each can share their resources with one another. People working together, supporting and empowering each other, can make this vision a reality.

For more information, contact:

401-865-2786 or pspvista@providence.edu

Welcome to our Blog!!!

2008-07-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

Hello to everyone out there in cyberspace. This is the brand new blog of the Community Congress. We are a grassroots organization based in Providence, RI's Smith Hill/Elmhurst/ChadAdSun area. We are made up of many community organizations that wish to work together to make our neighborhood better.

We will be adding our developed mission-vision statement in the next blog.

Here you can see what projects we are trying to tackle. Hopefully we will be linked to Flickr so that you can use your peepers to get a better idea of who we are.

Here's to the future!