Together RI

One of the hard problems we face here in Rhode Island is our school funding formula. The current system is broken, unfair, unpredictable, and insufficient. Last year, the Rhode Island Foundation and the Annenberg Institute at Brown University formed a blue-ribbon commission devoted to designing a more equitable approach to paying for public education. On January 22nd, we discussed our recommendations in a live panel discussion called Rhode Map Live: Funding the Future, Fixing the Formula. It was moderated by Dan McGowan and Steph Machado from Globe Rhode Island. This is a lightly edited recording of our discussion. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

Providence Bishop Bruce Lewandowski says he entered the priesthood to be a missionary. So, when he got the call to become the auxiliary bishop of Baltimore, he asked, 'Are you sure you have the right person?' This year, he was promoted to become the Bishop of Providence. He joins host David Cicilline to talk about his impression of the Ocean State and his vision for serving the Providence community. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

More than 140,000 Rhode Islanders rely on supplemental nutrition assistance, known as SNAP, from the federal government to buy their food. But, because of the government shutdown, they won't be getting those SNAP benefits in November. We can't let our neighbors go hungry. So, the Rhode Island Foundation is awarding one million dollars in emergency grants to address this crisis through our Community Partner Resilience Fund. And we're calling on everyone to help us match that amount to help fill in the gaps. Melissa Cherney, the CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, joins host David Cicilline to talk about this crisis. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

Affordable housing is one of Rhode Island's most pressing issues. According to a recent poll, more than 90 percent of Rhode Islanders say housing costs are a problem, and the state is the 18th most expensive place to rent in the country. Joe Garlick and Meghan Rego are trying to change this. They're with NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, a group working to make housing more affordable in Northern Rhode Island. They sat down with host David Cicilline to talk about how their organization is addressing the problem at its source. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

Virtual assistants. Chat GPT. Facial recognition. Artificial intelligence is all around us. And it's creating a lot of anxiety- will it replace our jobs? Make it easier for students to cheat? Use up all of our energy? But Sam Azar, the founder of Ascend Impact Advisors, says there are opportunities to use AI that are thoughtful and ethical. He talks with host David Cicilline about ways to help non-profits harness the power of these new tools. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/

It's a frightening time to be an immigrant or a refugee in the United States. Kathy Cloutier stands in the middle of this chaos. When we spoke, she was the executive director of Dorcas International, providing support and services for newcomers to this country. Now, she's the executive director of the Refugee Women's Alliance in Seattle, Washington. She joined host David Cicilline to talk about how she's moving forward in this new environment. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

This year, the Rhode Island Foundation hosted leaders from the 40 largest community foundations in the U.S. for a day of dialogue, action planning, and building relationships. David Cicilline pulled a few of them into the podcast studio to talk about the work they're doing to build community, rethink the role of philanthropy, and respond to federal funding cuts. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/

It's been said that the best social program in the world is a good job. Andrew Cortés has made those kinds of jobs happen for more than a thousand Rhode Islanders. He is the founder, president, and CEO of Building Futures- a non-profit that prepares people from historically underserved communities for jobs in the trades. Andrew joins David in the studio to talk more about his organization and the lives it has changed. Learn more about the Rhode Island Foundation at https://rifoundation.org/.

Paul Grogan, the former CEO of the Boston Foundation, likes to say he's had many employers, but he's always done the same job-making a difference in cities. Now, he's out with a memoir called "Be Prepared to Be Lucky." He co-wrote the book with Kathy Merchant, who was the CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation. They join David in the studio to discuss the book and Paul's career. Learn more about our work at https://rifoundation.org/

I first met Rajiv Shah when he was the administrator for USAID under President Obama, where he did extraordinary things all over the world- including leading the US response to the earthquake in Haiti and the West African Ebola pandemic. Now he's the President of the Rockefeller Foundation- a global institution devoted to promoting the well-being of humanity around the world. He's also the author of a new book called Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens. I invited him to launch our conversations about the role of philanthropy in addressing critical community, national, and global challenges because his book made me feel like anything was possible. Learn more about our work at https://rifoundation.org/.