Welcome to the March-April issue of Provplan’s e-newsletter. This is the first issue of our new every other month schedule, which allows us to keep you current without overwhelming you. We profile Dorcas Place, a long-time partner whose work on adult literacy and employment has been a model for many of us for years. Be sure to read the story on Reggio Emilia, if you want to be inspired by what a community can do on behalf of its youngest children. In addition, we report on the launching of a new initiative – Building Futures, designed to place unemployed and underemployed Providence residents in the construction trade unions. And finally, this week saw the groundbreaking for the Polish Home in Olneyville. The project reflects a new level of commitment from the construction industry and the building trades to neighborhood residents. We look forward to your feedback.

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

OHC, YouthBuild and Building Futures hold groundbreaking at their future home 
On March 14 several hundred people filled a hall that was once the heart of a vibrant Polish neighborhood in Olneyville. Those residents are now long gone, and the Polish National Home, built in the 1920s, is in poor repair, but the spirit within that architecturally significant building on Chaffee Street lives on.

“For many years this was a place of celebration and support,” Susan Baxter, chair of the R.I. Housing Resources Commission, noted at the groundbreaking celebration. “Now it will support the community in a different way, but one that is equally important.”

After some extensive renovations, the Polish National Home will house three programs – the Olneyville Housing Corporation, YouthBuild Providence (a program of The Providence Plan), and Building Futures (a new initiative in which ProvPlan is a core partner). OHC will occupy the first level and YouthBuild the second – more than doubling YouthBuild’s current living quarters a block away on Delaine Street. Building Futures will have its own space and separate entrance.

Renovation of the building is being funded with gifts, grants and loans from a wide range of partners. The structure is expected to be ready for occupancy this fall. [more on Groundbreaking...]

Building Futures will take individuals – and an industry – to new heights
Jobs for skilled workers in the state’s construction industry are expected to grow by 24 percent in the next five years, a statistic that translates into 2,000 new jobs each year. Meanwhile, approximately 18 percent of the industry’s current workers are over the age of 50. These figures concern not only contractors and developers, but also the building trade unions.

Building Futures, a new initiative in which ProvPlan is a core partner, seeks to alleviate this problem by connecting un- or underemployed men and women in the city’s low-income neighborhoods with union apprenticeships – positions that pay well, provide good benefits and extensive training, and pave the way for a secure financial future.

“We’ll serve as an intermediary,” explains Andrew Cortes, director of Building Futures. “We have a need for skilled construction workers that is not being met. At the same time, we have low-income communities with unemployment. And the unions want to find their next generation of members. In essence we have three different clients – employers, potential workers and the trade unions. We want to build the future of all three.”

Building Futures, which kicks off in April, has four core partners: The Providence Plan, YouthBuild Providence, Build RI, and Making Connections Providence. Its mission is to bring systemic change to the construction industry in ways that will help the sector meet future needs while creating employment opportunities for low-income adults in urban areas. The recruiting, screening and counseling of potential candidates for trade union apprenticeships will be a first step toward this larger goal. [more on Building Futures...]

R2LP invites visiting scholar from Reggio Emilia to start a dialogue in Providence
“We don’t view young children as empty boxes that we have to fill with information,” Tiziana Filippini told the large group of early-care providers and others who gathered at Ready to Learn Providence (R2LP) on February 20 to discuss the philosophy and pedagogy behind what is often referred to as “the Reggio Emilia Approach.” “A child is already a person – different from an adult, but a complete human being with a point of view. We believe teaching is a reciprocal relationship and that the teacher learns as much from the student as the student does from the teacher.”

Tiziana was here as a Wheelock College visiting scholar from Reggio Emilia, a city in northern Italy that over the past 50 years has earned international acclaim for its innovative pedagogy and powerful, practice-based theory in early childhood education. Tiziana, the coordinator of pedagogy for Reggio Emilia’s municipal early-care program, has written several books on the subject and is a coveted speaker.

Preferring to call it the Reggio “experience” rather than “approach,” Tiziana stressed that what happens in Reggio’s municipal program is extremely fluid because instruction and learning are driven by the individual children, all of whom are different. Teachers in the program constantly observe and document the interests and progress of each child, and adapt their instructional methods accordingly. [more on Reggio...]

Partner Profile
The Dorcas Place Adult and Family Learning Center is a partner of New Roots Providence and is represented on its advisory council.

Dorcas Place expands and evolves, but doesn’t lose sight of original mission
Twenty-six years ago Dorcas Place opened its doors to provide basic literacy education to a small group of low-income women in Providence. Today, more than 1,000 adults — men as well as women – participate in one of the five major programs that the organization now offers. Despite this dramatic expansion, however, the agency’s mission remains basically the same – helping low-income residents reach their full potential through literacy, workforce training, college preparatory programs and employment.

In the past decade, Dorcas Place has responded both to the changing demographics of the city and to the new economic realities facing the entire country. Providence has seen a dramatic increase in new immigrants, many of whom do not speak English. Meanwhile, jobs that pay living wages increasingly require not only basic literacy, but also some post-secondary education.

Dorcas Place now offers three literacy programs – Functional Literacy, which includes courses in reading, writing, English as a second language, and GED preparation; Workforce Literacy, which focuses on reading, writing and oral skills within the context of the workplace; and Family Literacy, an innovative program for parents and children offered in partnership with the Providence Public School Department. Dorcas Place also has a college preparatory program, giving eligible low-income, first generation adults an opportunity to take a tuition-free one-semester class at the Community College of Rhode Island as a starting point for a college career. Its fifth program is the Learning Resource Center, an academic drop-in center for people whose schedules make it impossible to attend regular classes.

Equally important are the services provided by the organization’s case managers. “Many of our students have huge issues that affect their academic work,” explains Dr. Brenda Dann-Messer, Ed.D., who has served as president of Dorcas Place since 1999. “Child care, transportation, housing – these are just some of the obstacles we help to remove.” [more on Dorcas Place...]

Groundbreaking, cont.
“We are returning this building as a critical link to the neighborhood,” said Frank Shea, executive director of OHC. “A piece of this neighborhood is being revitalized thanks to many partnerships. The City of Providence has been a critical partner and I appreciate the mayor’s personal investment in making this a reality.”

“Everyone in this room is making a real difference in this city,” Mayor David Cicilline insisted. “The three organizations this building will house represent the best of what’s happening in Providence… They’re helping to rebuild an entire city.”

Bill Struever, partner, CEO and president of Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, believes that with programs like YouthBuild and Building Futures more residents from the city’s urban neighborhoods will be building the developments rising in their communities. “There’s nothing I’m more proud of than my master electrician’s license,” he said. “It’s a great profession.”

“It is our responsibility to reach out to youth and help them find a livelihood that will support a family,” noted David Maron, president of Associated General Contractors, RI Chapter, and trustee of the RI Construction Industry Advancement Fund.

“Demand for skilled workers is going to increase,” added Michael J. Ruggieri, president of RI Building and Construction council & Business Manager, Local 37 International Association of Ironworkers. “I want to make sure that demand is met from our roots right here in Providence.”

City Councilwoman Josephine DiRuzzo, an early advocate for maintaining neighborhood control of the Polish National Home, said she was delighted when OHC decided to purchase it. “You’re going to see a neighborhood that’s second to none,” she promised the audience.

“This has been collaboration at its best,” noted Andrew Cortes, director of YouthBuild Providence and Building Futures. “I’m reminded today that we all share a common purpose – improving the quality of life.”

Gomah Wonleh, a YouthBuild graduate, was the final speaker. “I was in your shoes five years ago,” he told the YouthBuild students who filled the first two rows. “Today I have a good job that pays well, has benefits, pays an annuity – never did I dream I’d ever have that.”
For more on The Polish National Home, renovation plans, and the organizations that are making those renovations possible, see the December 2006 ProvPlan e-newsletter. [top]

Building Futures, cont.
The program is generating much excitement among local organizations and institutions looking for good jobs for their constituents. Because the construction field typically does not discriminate against past criminal offenders, agencies that focus on the reentry issues of former prisoners and training school students are particularly intrigued by the program’s potential.

Candidates for possible placement in a union apprenticeship program must undergo a comprehensive, multi-week assessment at Building Futures, which will soon be housed on Chaffee Street in Olneyville. (See story on Polish Home Groundbreaking.) This evaluation will determine a candidate’s readiness for an apprenticeship – emotionally, physically, mentally and intellectually. If a candidate doesn’t quite meet the threshold but has barriers that could be surmounted – such as the lack of high school credentials, transportation, fluency in English or child care – Building Futures’ case manager will develop an individual plan and possibly refer the candidate to a local service provider for support.

When, and only when, a candidate meets the threshold, Building Futures will recommend his or her placement in one of the 17 trade unions. “We need to produce quality candidates or the program will fall on its face,” notes Andrew. “The unions make an enormous investment in training, and they want that investment to be worthwhile.”

In its first year, Building Futures will remain fairly small, with perhaps no more than 30 placements and a staff of three. Once all the kinks are ironed out, placements could double each year for the foreseeable future.

Although Andrew also directs YouthBuild Providence, the programs are entirely different. Unlike YouthBuild, Building Futures is not a training initiative or a pre-apprenticeship program. Instead it seeks to make an impact on the construction industry as a whole by increasing access for low-income adults, diversifying the workforce, and examining policy issues central to industry practice.

“And,” Andrew adds, “we hope to change the perception of work in the construction field, which always ranks low among high school students. It’s a field with great growth and good pay, and you can’t ship these jobs overseas.” [top]

Reggio, cont.
R2LP invited Tiziana to Providence to start a dialogue on how this city might adopt or emulate some of what is happening in Reggio Emilia. While here, she and R2LP Director Joyce Butler met with Mayor David Cicilline, who expressed strong interest in the concept and accepted an invitation to visit the program while on a previously scheduled trip to Italy in April. That same week, four R2LP staff members will be in Reggio Emilia participating in a study tour arranged through Wheelock, an R2LP partner in its professional development program.

“What impresses me most about Reggio Emilia is that the city’s youngest children are seen as citizens,” says Joyce. “They are a visible part of the community and evidence of their work is displayed throughout the city. It is clear that children live there and are recognized as contributing members of the city.”

The program’s philosophy has its roots in the aftermath of World War II when residents vowed that no future generation would ever again succumb to a dictatorship. Critical thinking, creativity and engagement with one’s community would be encouraged and promoted even in their youngest children.

A group of teachers, under the guidance of Loris Malaguzzi, embraced these values and launched the early education program in the early ‘60s. Underlying all of what happens in the city’s beautifully designed early-care centers is the strong belief that children are competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative, inventive and possessing a desire to interact and communicate with others.

“The Reggio Emilia experience really moves all of us forward in how we talk about children,” Joyce noted after Tiziana’s presentation at R2LP. [top]

Dorcas Place , cont.
Asked about future goals for Dorcas Place, Brenda says she is currently applying for funding for a weekend program that would include an English language institute for immigrant professionals to help them gain employment in the professions they were trained in before emigrating.

With more than 60 full- and part-time staff, Dorcas Place offers programs day and night in a 19,500 square-foot building designed specifically to serve adult students, their families and the community at large. The organization moved into these spacious quarters on Elmwood Avenue just under five years ago, allowing it to greatly expand its offerings on site.

Brenda sits on the advisory council of New Roots Providence and her organization has been an active partner in the program since its inception. “I really support the idea of bringing community-based and faith-based organizations together to build capacity,” Brenda says. “Because Dorcas Place has been around so long, we can share some of our experience and practices with younger organizations. And it’s a good way for us to network with the faith-based community to pursue a common purpose.”

For more information on Dorcas Place and its many programs, go to www.dorcasplace.org.