Power of Place Summit Re-Cap
Friday, May 3, 2024
Rhode Island Convention Center
See who was there
A high impact event where powerful partnerships and collaborations are born.
The largest and most diverse gathering of community changemakers in Rhode Island
Planners, architects, students, development practitioners, lenders housing and transportation advocates, public health experts, local and state officials and nonprofits came together to learn, network, be inspired and to collaborate on shaping healthy, vibrant and prosperous communities for all.
For more than 25 years, the extended Grow Smart RI family have been creative problem-solvers. Together, we’ve been in the business of long-term systemic change that revitalizes neighborhoods and improves people’s lives while safeguarding RI’s environment, magic and soul.
You know it, because you’ve been part of it.
So, let the networking and collaboration go on. Use the registration list to continue strengthening your network. We’ve got a lot o work to do meeting the moment and tackling many of Rhode Island’s most persistent challenges and leveraging all the opportunities to:
- Increase affordable housing & transportation choices
- Redesign the built environment to support better public health
- Revitalize our Main Streets and Downtowns
- Respond more urgently and effectively to climate change
- Foster better access to prosperity for all Rhode Islanders
Select panel presentations and hand-outs are linked in the panel descriptions below (where available)
Thank you to our Sponsors
American Institute of Architects / RI Chapter • BETA Group, Inc. • Blackstone Valley Tourism Council • Brown University • City of Central Falls • City of Pawtucket • City of Providence • Dimeo Construction • Dimeo Properties • DiPrete Engineering • Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston • Gridwealth • Kite Architects • Kimley Horn • Kittelson & Associates, Inc. • Moran Shipping Company • Morgan Stanley • Navigant Credit Union • Northeast Marine Pilots, Inc. • Ørsted Americas • Preservation Society of Newport County • Providence Performing Arts Center • ProvPort • Rhode Island Housing • Roger Williams University • Shawmut Design & Construction • SignalWorks Architecture • SK Wealth Management • Sweeney Real Estate and Appraisal • The Foundry Associates • University of Rhode Island • Vision 3 Architects • Washington Trust • Waterson Terminal Services • ZDS Architecture
Keynote Presentation
The Built Environment and Public Health: Designing Communities for Health and Equity
Reflections on the State of the Smart Growth Movement in RI
Scott Wolf, Grow Smart RI Executive Director
At our 25th Anniversary, Scott reflects on Grow Smart RI, powered by its many partnerships, has become an influential change agent building strong coalitions, silo and myth busting and advocating for an asset-based economic development strategy for Rhode Island. He holds up the progress we can celebrate, and outlines the challenges that stand in the way of Rhode Island being a place where residents and their children can afford to live, a place where our transportation system serves more residents (and our climate), and where our built environment is thriving, safe and produces better public health outcomes.
Gil Peñalosa stirred the audience illustrating smart growth’s clear benefits for public health, economic prosperity, quality of life, equity & justice.
Gil is an internationally recognized smart growth strategist and urbanist – he’s the founder and Board Chair of the Toronto-based non-profit organization 8 80 Cities. A former Commissioner of Parks for Bogota, Colombia, and a Toronto Mayoral candidate, Gil advises decision makers and communities on how to create vibrant cities and healthy communities for people of all ages and backgrounds, focusing on the strong connections between the built environment and public health.
Keynote Response Panel
We assembled this blockbuster panel of community leaders to tease out the most promising opportunities for improving public health and well-being through the built environment in Rhode Island.
Schedule of Events
8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Registration & Networking in Exhibit Area
8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Morning Plenary
10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Networking Break in Exhibit Area
11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Morning Breakout Panel Discussions
* Expand session description to view select Powerpoint presentations or hand-outs (where available)
Implementing Residential and Mixed-Use Development in Rhode Island’s Growth Centers and Villages
Building off of HousingWorks RI's recently released Rhode Island Zoning Atlas and deeper analyses of Growth Centers and transit corridors in Rhode Island, this session will offer an overview of the findings and discuss the opportunities for increasing and diversifying residential development by rezoning in smart growth areas. Don Powers of Union Studio, and Tom Kravitz, Warwick's Director of Planning, will offer their thoughts on the opportunities across Rhode Island's centers and villages to enhance the residential and commercial amenities to scale in these communities, providing opportunities that help housing affordability as well as supporting local economies and recreation.
Brenda Clement, Executive Director, HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University (Moderator)
Toby Arment, Research Analyst, HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University
Tom Kravitz, Director of Planning, City of Warwick
Don Powers, Founding Partner, Union Studio
A Critical Reboot for RI's State Historic Tax Credit
At a time when the transformational RI State Historic Tax Credit Program is needed more than ever to increase RI's housing supply and revitalize our iconic Main Streets and Downtowns, the Program is facing serious challenges. Hear a panel of policy experts and rehab practitioners diagnose these challenges and recommend solutions to them.
Scott Wolf, Executive Director, Grow Smart RI (Moderator)
Valerie Talmage, Executive Director, Preserve RI
Brent Runyon, Principal, Runyon Heritage Associates
Envisioning the Future of Transportation in Rhode Island
Rhode Islanders deserve a more expansive transportation system that provides for their diverse mobility needs, reduces air pollution, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, creates family-sustaining jobs and improves local economic development. Practitioners from RI, nearby states and national organizations will highlight examples of transformational multimodal transportation infrastructure projects that Rhode Island may learn from and emulate. Specifically, MassDOT recently completed an assessment of economic benefits of Complete Streets Projects similar to what could be implemented in municipalities in RI. As facilitator/panelist, Andrew Cortes of Building Futures RI will ask our panelists to elevate the career opportunities associated with the reconstruction of complete streets and expansion of transit infrastructure and services.
Andrew Cortes, President & CEO, Building Futures RI (Moderator)
Martina Haggerty, Senior Director of Local Innovation, PeopleForBikes
Rochelle Lee, Community Organizer, Educator, former RIPTA Board member
Francisco Lovera, Complete Streets Engineer, MassDOT
Sarah Ingle, Executive Director of Planning / Project Manager, Transit Forward RI 2040, RIPTA
From the Urban Core to the Ocean Floor: Building a Regional Tech Hub Opportunity
Surrounded by miles of coastline, Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts are deeply connected to the water. From recreation to industry, the ocean has been critical to our historical livelihood, and this natural relationship has spurred technology innovation for centuries. With climate change rapidly changing our environment and creating vulnerabilities for our coastal properties, food sources and workforce, the ocean is the final frontier in helping to find solutions. This region has been at the forefront of ocean exploration and science, bringing invention to undersea technology and spurring an economy tied to the water. As the need to understand and mitigate the impacts of climate change increase, so does the demand for more ocean innovation. In 2023, Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts were designated as the only undersea ocean technology hub in the nation by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The Ocean Tech Hub is poised to fuel a growing industry cluster around ocean technology and lay a new foundation for economic growth and potential. How this happens and who participates is vital to helping all boats rise in this regional opportunity. Join this lively conversation with a diverse mix of leaders touching the ocean economy.
Daniela Fairchild, Chief Strategy Officer, RI Commerce (Co-Moderator)
Lisa Carnevale, VP Innovation Initiatives, RI Commerce (Co-Moderator)
Erin Donovan-Boyle, President & CEO, Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce
Drew Carey, VP, Americas, Venterra Group
Nishita Roy-Pope, Founder & CEO, Tribe Academy
Jen Downing, Executive Director, New Bedford Ocean Cluster
Making Places for Everyone - With Everyone
Placemaking fosters a sense of belonging in a place and provides communities opportunities to define its use. If achieved effectively, placemaking helps strengthen local economies, reduces crime, drives civic engagement, and improves health and well-being. Yet some practices of placemaking may sometimes have unintended consequences - it could be underutilized, benefit only a small segment of the community, or increase the desirability of living in the community and in turn price out those who already live there. Low-income communities and communities of color are especially vulnerable to gentrification, displacement and continued concentration in certain areas. This session will highlight best practices, learning and success stories of equitable placemaking activities along with a panel discussion from experts in their community explaining how placemaking can be done equitably to ensure the whole community is involved in the process and benefits from the results.
Dwayne Keys, Managing Director, D Key Solution (Moderator)
Raymond Two Hawks Watson, CEO & Founder, Providence Cultural Equity Initiative (PCEI)
Angela Lima, First Ward Councilor, Newport City Council
Leslie Moore, Lead Developer, Black Block
Marta Martinez, Executive Director, RI Latino Arts
Community Capital and Rhode Island's Local Economy
Local Return is a new organization whose mission is to build community wealth in Rhode Island through ownership and investment, particularly in neighborhoods that have experienced historical disinvestment. For the past three years, they have been laboring to establish Rhode Island's first-ever community investment fund, which will launch this spring. The goal of the Rhode Island Community Investment Collaborative is to raise capital to build community wealth in economically disadvantaged Rhode Island neighborhoods by investing in place-based, locally-owned, and community-driven real estate revitalization through engaging community investors, leveraging social capital, and building a pipeline of investments through customized support to potential investees. Learn more about the local economy movement, community investment, and the new fund with Local Return and experts in the field.
Jessica David, President and Co-Founder, Local Return
Raul Figueroa, Vice President and Co-Founder, Local Return, and Cooperative Director, Fuerza Laboral
Janice Shade, Founder, Capital Innovation Lab
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Luncheon and Smart Growth Awards Program
2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Afternoon Breakout Panel Discussions
* Expand session description to view select Powerpoint presentations or hand-outs (where available)
Friends or Enemies? Turns out Housing and Land Conservation Can Get Along
In a world of limited resources, efforts that would help our communities 'grow smart' are often at odds. The housing and land conservation fields are frequently seen as competitors, jockeying for one of RI's most scarce resources - land. What if we imagined a world, however, where communities can have their cake and eat it too? Join us for a conversation about the barriers to creating beautiful, dense, and affordable communities while also preserving open space and critical environmental areas. And more importantly, a discussion on the tools we can deploy to make this vision a reality.
Grace Evans Pedanou, VP, Strategy & Chief of Staff, ONE Neighborhood Builders
Jennifer Hawkins, President & CEO, ONE Neighborhood Builders
Kate Sayles, Executive Director, RI Land Trust Council
Rhode Island's Social Equity Platform: A New Tool for Compiling and Visualizing Social Equity Data
Following adoption of the federal Justice40 initiative in 2021, Rhode Island agencies came together to build a common understanding of social equity. The initiative requires that at least 40% of the benefits from certain federal investments go to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The Social Equity Platform pulls together more than 30 spatial data indicators on public health, environmental justice, socio-demographics, and transportation into one easy to use, publicly accessible platform. The platform increases social equity data transparency and overlays the unique justice issues communities across the state face. The platform is still a work in progress - this session will include a demonstration of the platform, and an interactive discussion to gather feedback and ideas for improvement.
Liza Farr, Supervising Planner, State of Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning (Presenter)
Moving the Needle: Practical Lessons Steering Active Transportation Projects to Completion
Are you tired of seeing great active transportation projects sitting on the shelf, stalled, or scheduled for construction sometime in the 2030's? Municipalities and community organizations on Aquidneck Island had enough with seeing the same critical bicycle and pedestrian projects appear on plan after plan...and decided it was time to get things moving. Discover how 'Ride Island' is changing the conversation through a combination of branding (Ride Island...geddit?), collaboration among municipalities, focused planning and technical assistance, and good old-fashioned community organizing. Year 2 of the initiative will include more pilot projects, a study tour...so come find out more.
Shawna Kitzman, Senior Planner, Toole Design (Moderator)
Bari Freeman, Executive Director, Bike Newport
Thomas Brendler, Senior Program Officer, van Beuren Charitable Foundation
Sen. Lou DiPalma, State Senator, District 12
Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong, Mayor, City of Newport
Cracking the Code: Strengthening our Neighborhoods through Participatory Planning
In theory, participatory planning creates pathways for community members to shape design and planning projects in their neighborhoods, leading to outcomes that are more responsive to local need and a more civically engaged citizenry. In practice? Participatory planning is challenging. When does participation shape outcomes, and when is it a check-the-box exercise that does not lead to measurable change? How can a small group of community members ever truly represent the views of a neighborhood, ward or even a city? Panelists will discuss their own experiences leading participatory planning and budgeting projects in Providence and beyond, sharing insights learned from the field.
Marisa Angell Brown, Executive Director, Providence Preservation Society (Moderator)
Manuel Cordero Alvarado, Principal, CIVIC
Tim Shea, Community Planning Manager, Providence Department of Planning & Development
Anusha Venkataraman, Managing Director of ONE Central Providence, ONE Neighborhood Builders
Participatory Planning (PPT)
Roads Not (Yet) Taken: Opportunity in RI’s Corridors
Rhode Island has many long, wide streets with mostly single-story commercial buildings on both sides. With the launch of Grow Smart RI’s Main Street RI initiative, we’ve been considering our large main streets in addition to our historic and smaller districts. These corridors represent great opportunities to grow "smarter" and meet community goals focused on neighborhood character, availability of infrastructure, multimodal transportation, economic development, climate resilience, and housing. Learn about the Main Street approach and other strategies for building stronger places, and hear from Rhode Island communities who are planning, implementing and incentivizing projects to re-align and even re-imagine land use along main corridors to meeting the needs and desires of the community.
Seth Zeren, Principal, Armory Management Company and Co-Founder, Neighbors Welcome RI (Moderator)
Ashley Sweet, Project Manager, Weston & Sampson
Nancy Letendre, Town Planner, Westerly, RI
Bob Rulli, Director of Community & Economic Development, Town of Bridgewater, MA and Adjunct Professor, Roger Williams University
Renee Parry, Student, Roger Williams University
Regional Rail for Climate, Housing and Economic Growth
Rhode Island would better address its climate, housing, and mobility challenges simultaneously by investing in passenger rail, and the existing Northeast Corridor. Opportunities for rail enhancements abound, both in-state and in collaboration with our neighbors in Massachusetts and Connecticut. But fiscal, logistical, political, and climatic hurdles must be overcome if rail is to form a cornerstone of Rhode Island’s strategy for sustainable growth in the years to come. This presentation explores what the future could hold – and what it would take to get a statewide program of rail investments on track.
Alex Berardo, RI Association of Railroad Passengers (Moderator)
Jarred Johnson, Executive Director,TransitMatters, Boston, MA
Peter Brassard, Chair, RI Association of Railroad Passengers
Joseph Barr, Director of Network Development-East, Amtrak
Charles Planck, Director of Planning, Northeast Corridor, Amtrak
Connecting the Dots for a Clean, Equitable, Energy Transition for a Healthy Rhode Island
Rhode Island's 2021 Act on Climate established statewide, economy-wide GHG emissions reduction mandates, culminating in net-zero emissions by 2050. Achieving these goals requires a fair and affordable energy transition including engaging stakeholders and connecting energy decisions to healthy outcomes. This session will explore the connections between energy use, energy efficiency, decarbonization and healthy indoor environments. We will discuss utility and other programs that simultaneously reduce energy costs, decarbonize and improve building health. We'll provide an overview of policies and programs and discuss strategies and case studies to help communities better leverage and improve participation in available programs.
Andrea Moshier, Principal Engineer, Customer Programs, Rhode Island Energy (Moderator)
Carrie A. Gill, Ph.D., Head of Electric Regulatory Strategy, Rhode Island Energy
Rachel Calabro, Climate Change Policy Specialist, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
Mark Kravatz, Founder and President, Alidade Consultants
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Cocktail Reception in Exhibit Area
And the 2024 Smart Growth Awards go to…
The Annual Smart Growth Awards honor those helping to shape strong, sustainable, and just communities across Rhode Island through innovative leadership, community revitalization/conservation, and policy initiatives.
HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University
Under the outstanding leadership of Brenda Clement and Annette Bourne, Housing Works RI at Roger Williams University has become the premier Rhode Island go to source for data and policy analysis regarding our complicated and urgent housing crisis. They highlight clearly how increasing Rhode Islanders’ access to healthy, affordable homes can advance such other key smart growth objectives as stronger transit, increased economic opportunity, revitalized Downtowns and Main Streets and improved public health. Their annual, rigorously researched Housing Fact Book has become Rhode Island’s “go-to” essential resource on housing affordability. Their more recent initiatives, including the RI Zoning Atlas and a report on mobile home parks, are also encouraging policy changes critical to digging us out of our severe housing production and affordability hole.
The Pine Street Project, (SHRI Studio+) Pawtucket
In collaboration with numerous community stakeholders and partners, Citizen Developer Alison Bologna brought to fruition the creative redevelopment of the historic office building within the Conant Thread / Coats & Clark Mill Complex in Pawtucket, just a short walk from the Pawtucket Central Falls Transit Center. Bologna’s SHRI Yoga Studio, offering low-cost and free yoga classes to Rhode islanders of all backgrounds, was growing rapidly in 2019 when the city’s mayor, Donald Grebien, convinced her to explore rehabbing the mill office building. She closed on the property in January 2020, just three months before the global pandemic shuttered the economy and a massive fire destroyed a cluster of eight nearby mill buildings. Despite many setbacks the project was completed in August 2023 and now boasts several thriving social enterprises and eight mixed-income residential apartments. Since opening, two adjacent developments are now underway bringing an additional 400 units of housing to the Train Station District.
East Providence “Main Street” Mixed Use Overlay Districts
With many of the City’s commercial corridors in need of reinvestment, East Providence recognized the negative impacts that outdated zoning had on these areas. To incentivize mixed use development and affordable housing located adjacent to services, jobs and transit, the City adopted in December 2022. a series of “Mixed Use Hub” overlay districts. Currently approved for four of the City’s Main Street areas, these districts are noteworthy for their reduction and/or elimination of parking requirements, especially for adaptive reuse affordable housing projects. Simultaneously, the City allowed mixed-use development in all commercial districts, reduced many other parking requirements, and allowed for increased multi-family density. Numerous commercial and housing projects on key sites have resulted from these overlay districts, and the City is considering expanding them to additional corridors.
