Photo by Elaine Collins

WHY?
The playground will be the seventh built by KaBOOM! and UnitedHealthcare as part of UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” initiative – a campaign to inspire service and encourage volunteerism in communities where UnitedHealthcare employees live and work. The New England Patriots Charitable Foundation is supporting the “Do Good. Live Well.” mission and partnering with UnitedHealthcare throughout the year to help Patriots fans live healthier lives.

This project is also one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2011 in an effort to provide a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. This park is one of the most used parks in Providence and is used by an extremely economically and ethnically diverse population. The location is unique in that the playground is located on a very historic site with the castle-like, nationally renowned Cranston Street Armory at one end of the park.

WHEN?
Tuesday, October 11
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. Kick-off ceremony & volunteer deployment
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Best viewing of playground construction
1:30 – 3:00 p.m. Patriots players participate in final construction phase
2:30 – 3:00 p.m. Ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate new play area
Note: all times approximate

WHERE?
Dexter Training Ground, 65 Dexter Street, Providence, RI 02909

WHO?
Approximately 20 New England Patriots players, including*:

Wes Welker
Rob Gronkowski
Deion Branch
Devin McCourty
BenJarvus Green-Ellis
Patrick Chung
Rob Ninkovich
Kevin Faulk
Stephen Gostkowski
Zoltan Mesko
Nate Solder
Kyle Love
Matt Slater
Gary Guyton
Dane Fletcher

Patriots mascot Pat Patriot & Patriots Cheerleaders; Hundreds of volunteers from the local community

*scheduled and subject to change

VISUALS?
Before and after shots of the site with a backdrop of the castle-like Cranston Street Armory

Volunteers assembling brightly colored playground equipment

Volunteers moving 64,800 square feet of safety surfacing by hand

Ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the playground

WPRI captures our fun for the nightly news

Over 70 adults and kids entered Dexter Training Grounds with one thing on their minds — SNOW!

Click the link to read more and/or to watch video coverage by WPRI. Thanks for dropping by Nneka Nwosu! Snow day: Nothing to do but have fun: wpri.com

And here’s footage from the great Gene Valicenti of NBC10: Snow Party

“Some may dread the impending snow, but we’re going to revel in it by making igloos, snowmen and other great wintertime sculptures,” says Elaine Collins, Vice President, West Broadway Neighborhood Association. “Keep your cars off the street, walk over to the park, build some snowmen and enjoy the company of others in our great community!”

Collins tells participants to dress warmly and encourages them to bring carrots for “snowman noses” and other perishable food items which could add color to their snow creations. Interested participants need only show up.

Hot beverages will be provided by Hudson Street Deli, a local West Side community corner store which has operated in the heart of the Armory District since 1922.

Decatur Square Social Club

About five years have passed since a police officer at a public WestSide neighborhood crime watch meeting stated, “Oh, the social club? Well, you all know we can’t do anything about organized crime.”

It was a surprise to hear a law enforcement officer make such a blunt statement in public even for lifelong Providence residents who have become desensitized to corruption. Was this a cry for help from the law enforcement officer? An excuse for not solving the problem? An attempt to discourage concerned residents from pressing further?

One can never be sure in the capital city. Is today’s news of the recent drug sting a sign that times have changed?

WestSide residents have been vigilant in their attempts over the past few years to work with local law enforcement officers in order to make their community safer for all residents.

Crime Meetings
The West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA) sponsors Neighborhood Action Crime Watch meetings all year. On the 4th Tuesday of each month, concerned residents, representatives from the RI Attorney General’s office and the Providence Police Department come together to share notes and update one another on crime activities in the neighborhood.

Get Safe Online
Another WestSide method for staying up to date on crime related activities was created by concerned neighbors in The Column – that section of the WestSide between Broadway and Westminster – you know, where Ama’s, The Avery, E&O Tap and…the recently busted Decatur Square Social Club is. These neighbors created a google group so that they can communicate online any time. District Commander Lt. San Lucas is a member of the group and advises residents of activities in the neighborhood while neighbors ask questions and express concerns about suspicious activities.  Crime information is not restricted to The Column. Interested residents can sign up here.

What about the rest of Providence?
Many cities around the country have created websites in order to keep the public informed about crime. Chicago has led the way in this work for several years. Currently, Providence Plan distributes crime statistics to the Providence Police Department regularly, but this information is not posted publicly. Why? There were rumors of a website developing in Providence years ago, but nothing has happened to date. Mayor-elect Angel Taveras, will you please take this on?

Outside Community MusicWorks this past Friday

Sebastian Ruth, Founder and Artistic Director, of Community MusicWorks on the WestSide has received a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

From the MacArthur website:

“The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.

The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.

Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows, and does not evaluate recipients’ creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no strings attached” award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $500,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years.”

SIGN UP ON FACEBOOK!

The time is now! Our community has been invited by the school department to help shape the direction of West Broadway Elementary School (recommended for reopening in 2011) and of a middle school option in the neighborhood. Carleton Jones of Providence Schools will be in attendance. Discussion will be facilitated by Mike Ritz of Leadership RI.

THE DETAILS:
What: Community forum on the future of west side public schools
When: Tomorrow (Tuesday), March 2, 7pm – 8:30pm
Where: WBNA, 1560 Westminster Street, Providence

This forum is the first of a series of conversations about what we want to see and be implemented on both the elementary and middle school levels. Share your thoughts and visions with the school department and your fellow neighbors about the direction of our neighborhood schools.

Your involvement is critical if:

• You care about having quality public education on the west side
• You believe that quality public schools stabilize neighborhoods
• You have school age OR pre-school age children and want access to quality public schools
• You are considering leaving the neighborhood because of lack of viable public school options

Thanks in advance for your valuable input. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

~ WBNA and West Side Public Education Coalition (WSPEC)