Welcome to the third issue of ProvPlan’s e-newsletter. We have received positive feedback from readers and we remain committed to making this resource as useful to you as possible. Continue to give us your comments and feedback, and please share the newsletter with others you know. On a more personal note, this issue includes a tribute to Luis Pagan, who died last month. Luis interned at The Providence Plan for more than two years and all of us got to know him well. As you will see in the story below, Luis was a special person. We miss him very much.

Thanks,
Pat McGuigan, Executive Director
pmcguigan@provplan.org

Study to explore outcomes of children born to teen mothers 
With a three-year grant from the R.I. Department of Health, The Providence Plan is investigating the health and educational outcomes of children born to teen mothers. This study will focus on the state’s core cities (where 70 percent of all teen births in Rhode Island occurred between 2000 and 2004) and will look at how children born over the last 10 years fare on a range of health, academic and social indicators.

Do these youngsters, for example, have higher blood lead levels than children born to older mothers? Are they more likely to live in neighborhoods where crime rates are high? Do they score as well on standardized tests administered in kindergarten? Are services available in neighborhoods where teen births are typically high?

Research suggests that children of teen mothers do not receive the same level of health services as children of adults, face more learning challenges, and come disproportionately from poorer neighborhoods. These are the issues this analysis will explore within Rhode Island’s most disadvantaged communities. [more on Study...]

Providence’s new superintendent discusses challenges and goals at Ready to Learn Providence
Coordination between the early-care community and the school department is essential, Providence Superintendent Donnie W. Evans, Ed.D., told a group at Ready to Learn (a program of The Providence Plan) on January 19. “There must be a sharing of information between early-care providers and early-childhood teachers,” he said.

Ready to Learn Providence’s Transition to Kindergarten Committee organized the superintendent’s visit, which was attended by more than 45 members of the R2LP community. Dr. Evans expressed strong support for the work of R2LP and the early-care community, and applauded the existing collaborative work between that community and the School Department.

Dr. Evans, who came to the Providence Public School Department (PPSD) in September, noted some of the challenges facing the schools he now heads. “Seventy-five to 80 percent of our children qualify for free lunch,” he said. “That gives you some indication of the need. We have to close the gap between advantaged children – who have books in their homes and parents who can read to them or take them to museums – and disadvantaged children.” High quality child-care settings, he noted, can play an instrumental role in bridging that gap.

Ready to Learn Providence and the Providence School Department have partnered in several initiatives designed to bridge that gap. They are currently working together on the following efforts:
[more on Superintendent...]

New Roots Providence to focus on fund development in March training session
Do you worry about finding the necessary money to run your organization? Do you rely too heavily on grants from foundations and perhaps a few special events? Do you wonder what the future holds?

“Fund Development: Basic Principles and Best Practice” (a New Roots workshop to be offered on Wednesday, March 8, and Saturday, March 11) will be led by Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, founder of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. Ms Joyaux will provide you with numerous tips and useful handouts on how best to develop your fundraising program. In this workshop, which will focus on individual giving rather than on grant writing or special events, you will learn who gives charitable gifts and how to ask for contributions. Bring your questions and together we will figure out how to use this valuable information in your agency.

To register for one of the two sessions, which run from 9 a.m. to noon, please call Chiv Heng at (401) 455-8880 or e-mail him at cheng@provplan.org by March 1. Space is limited so early registration is recommended. New Roots workshops are free and open to all community and faith-based organizations doing work in Providence. [more on Training...]

New Roots’ program coordinator can answer your questions
If you have questions about any of the upcoming New Roots training sessions, Chiv Heng, program coordinator at The Providence Plan, is the person to see. Chiv (pronounced “choo”) can be reached by phone at 455-8880, ext. 218, or by e-mail at cheng@provplan.org.

[more on Chiv...]

YouthBuild wins $700,000 grant from HUD
A $700,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allows YouthBuild Providence to continue delivering its quality programming – and possibly expand its reach.

YouthBuild Providence, a program of The Providence Plan, learned in January that it had won this highly competitive grant. “Many programs end up shutting their doors if they don’t secure this money,” notes Andrew Cortes, director of YouthBuild Providence. “We’re thankful that HUD is recognizing the contribution we’re making in Providence.”

The HUD money not only ensures two more 10-month class cycles, but also puts the Providence organization closer to its dream of moving into larger quarters and expanding the size of its classes. The current class of 30 was accepted from an initial field of nearly 200 applicants. “The need is just astounding,” says Cortes. [more on Grant...]


Luis Pagan: In Memoriam
It is with great sadness that we must acknowledge the tragic and untimely death of Luis Pagan. For much of the past three years, Luis interned at The Providence Plan, working with Providence’s Making Connections Initiative to improve the lives of families living in the South Providence, West End, and Elmwood neighborhoods.

While vacationing in Oaxaca, Mexico, over the holiday break last month, Luis was swept away while swimming and drowned. Luis grew up in Providence’s West End and South Side neighborhoods, graduated from Classical High School, and was completing his senior year at Brown University, where he was pursuing his interests in nonprofit management and organizational development.

Luis was well known and much loved within a number of Providence communities. Those who knew him were invariably impressed by his passionate commitment to a wide variety of community issues, especially those involving youth development and the arts. He brought this passion to his work in many organizations, including Youth in Action, Making Connections and Brown University.

For a young man of 22 years, Luis had accomplished much and had gained the wisdom and a perspective on the world of someone far older. In addition to his community work, Luis had managed to travel to many parts of the world, including Brazil, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Italy. Following these trips, Luis would return to work with challenging and insightful questions about conditions in the countries he had visited as well as those here at home. He rarely came up with answers that he found satisfactory.

Through his academic, volunteer and work experience, Luis was preparing to make a substantial and positive impact on the world. His intellectual curiosity, intelligence, passion and warmth, coupled with his commitment to social equity and the neighborhoods in which he grew up, make his loss all the more tragic. Luis’ passing has been felt deeply in the many communities in which he traveled, and he will be sorely missed. [Top]

Study, cont.
To conduct the study, ProvPlan will draw on health data maintained by the Health Department, academic assessments and data from the Providence school department, and information from ProvPlan’s data warehouse, including data from the U.S. Census Bureau and state and local agencies. With overlapping maps, ProvPlan will be able to identify high concentrations of teen parents, the services available to them, and the risk factors – such as low education levels – that may exist in those neighborhoods.

ProvPlan intends to share its findings with interested organizations via the web. A “Teen Birth Portal” linked to our homepage will share data analysis and mapping, compile information on resources to address teen pregnancy in Rhode Island, and will highlight effective programs and services.

Findings from this project will help identify factors that figure positively in the outcomes of children born to teen parents, as well as factors that play a role in the incidence of teen births. Why, for example, do some neighborhoods with high concentrations of teenagers have relatively low rates of teenage pregnancy?

The outcomes of teen parents are also of interest in this study. At what rate, for example, do teen mothers graduate from high school? ProvPlan and the Department of Health also hope to identify the determinants of repeat teen births and the missed opportunities in preventing those second pregnancies.

Of the Rhode Island cities with the highest teen birth averages between 2000 and 2004, Central Falls ranks highest at 18 percent of all births. West Warwick, with eight percent, has the lowest average of the six core cities. Teen births in Providence averaged 16 percent. Rhode Island’s core cities include Central Falls, Newport, Pawtucket, Providence, West Warwick and Woonsocket. [top]

Superintendent, cont.

• A jointly-led R2LP Transition to Kindergarten Committee, which includes parents as well as representatives from the School Department, the early-care community, child-care agencies, advocacy groups, state agencies and the Providence Public Library. This committee identifies the challenges facing Providence children as they enter kindergarten and develops strategies to address them.

• The design and development of joint professional development opportunities for teachers and teacher assistants within the early-care and education system and the School Department.

• A joint outreach effort designed to encourage families to attend PPSD’s Open Schools Week and to register their children early for kindergarten.

• A three-year project, Early Reading First, designed to promote and measure best practices in early literacy instruction at the preschool level. One of the R2LP’s four partnering sites is the PPSD’s Leviton Annex.

• The Family Engagement Committee, an R2LP committee that includes families, educators, providers and other members of the community. This committee works to develop programs and events that support families as they prepare children for success in school.

Before joining the Providence School Department, Dr. Evans served as chief academic officer in the Hillsborough County Public School Department in Tampa, Fla. [top]

Training, cont.
Ms Joyaux, a trainer and consultant for organizations of every size and type, has a long history of working with small and emerging organizations. Her areas of expertise include fund development, board development, planning and management. She has worked with faith-based organizations, and developed and delivered training programs for the National Federation of Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers.

Ms Joyaux, founder and chair of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, was awarded Rhode Island’s Outstanding Philanthropic Citizen in 2003. Recognized internationally as an author and teacher, Ms Joayaux presents at conferences around the world.

New Roots Providence, a project funded with a grant from the Compassion Capital Fund and managed by The Providence Plan, helps community and faith-based organizations improve their ability to provide social services to those in need. [top]

 

Chiv, cont.
Chiv, who joined ProvPlan in January, brings a varied background to his work in the New Roots initiative. With a bachelor’s degree in political science that he earned from the University of Rhode Island in 2003, Chiv began his professional career, first as a Mayoral Fellow and then as a policy analyst in the office of Providence Mayor David Cicilline. In 2004 he spent six months as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. Most recently, Chiv worked as a program coordinator with Barbara Sokoloff Associates, a Providence-based planning and development consultant agency, working to secure state and federal funding for affordable housing developments.

Chiv is handling the logistical arrangements and publicity for the New Roots training sessions, which are designed to help community and faith-based organizations improve their ability to provide social services to those in need. He is also assisting in the data analysis associated with the program. “Having grown up in Providence,” Chiv says, “I have a lot of interest in promoting the kind of community work New Roots is helping to jumpstart.” [top]

Grant, cont.
In awarding the YouthBuild grants, HUD looks for programs with proven success and innovative ideas for improvement. “We’re extremely outcome-driven,” Cortes notes. “You can’t survive on good intentions alone. Funders want to know how many students earn GEDs, get good jobs in the field, pursue higher education, and other specific signs of success.”

YouthBuild Providence, which began in 1998, is a program designed to give high school dropouts the skills and education needed to pursue careers in the construction field. The current class is building a house, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, Greater Providence Inc., for a low-income family in the Silver Lake neighborhood. On alternating weeks, students attend academic classes in preparation for the GED examination. [top]