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LATEST NEWS

AT A GLANCE

SPECIAL:

We're excited to share the details for our RI Main Street Learning Cohort. The application period will open on 10/25. Attend the Main Street Together Conference to learn more!

EVENTS:

Main Street Together Conference, Saturday 10/25, 8:30-3:30pm. In Cranston's Rolfe Square, Cranston High School East. LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!

Why Nothing Works: a Conversation and Book Signing with Author Marc Dunkelman, Wednesday, 10/22, 5:30-7:30pm. 30 Exchange Terrace, Providence. REGISTER

MEDIA:

Can Rhode Islanders Find Affordable Housing and a Sense of Community? -- the latest from Grow Smart RI columnist Lisa A. Watts

Main Street: A Power of Place Podcast: The latest episode features Paul Durfee of Durfee Hardware in Cranston's Rolfe Square. New episodes dropping every other Friday!

Best Practices in Building Healthy Communities: presentation and resources prepared by William Schechter and Scott Wolf based on national Grow Smart RI research funded by our RI Department of Health State Physical Activity Grant.

PARTNER NEWS AND PROGRAMS:

We're excited to be collaborating with several other mission aligned organizations here in Rhode Island. Be sure to catch all that they're up to at the bottom of this Newsletter. We're leading this month with news of Housing Works RI releasing their 2025 Housing Fact Book. 

Have something to share for our next monthly edition? If so, email Caroline Stevens.

SPECIAL

INTRODUCING the RI Main Street Learning Cohort

Are you ready to take action on behalf of your commercial district? Between January – June, 2026 Main Street America will be leading monthly workshops here in Rhode Island discussing actual processes for implementing different transformation strategies. This “learning cohort” is designed for groups of people from different communities around RI, with each session including suggested action items to translate talk into concrete steps forward.

More information will be shared and the application period will open on Saturday, October 25th in conjunction with the Main Street Together conference. Attend the conference to learn more!

EVENTS

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER:

MAIN STREET TOGETHER

A Conference for Community Members Across RI Committed to Building Vibrant Main Streets

Saturday, Oct. 25 8:30am to 3:30pm

Cranston High School East

899 Park Avenue, Cranston RI

Come when you can, stay as long as you like. Change starts today.

WHY NOTHING WORKS: Conversation and Book Signing with Author Marc Dunkelman

Oct. 22, 5:30-7:30pm

30 Exchange Terrace Theater, Providence

Join Neighbors Welcome! RI, Grow Smart RI and Providence Foundation for a conversation with Marc J. Dunkelman, author of Why Nothing Works. With a panel which brings together voices from government, design and policy, this event will feature a lively exchange on restoring public trust in government and our collective capacity to build high impact infrastructure and housing projects.

Free Pizza and Drinks Provided. Discussion to Follow.

MEDIA

Presenting the Latest From

MAIN STREET: A Power of Place Podcast

Our latest Main Street: A Power of Place Podcast episode features Paul Durfee diving into his main street's history: like did you know that when Durfee Hardware first opened Cranston's Rolfe Square was just an unpaved road at the end of the trolley line?

New episodes drop every other Friday. Listen on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify today!

Are You Signed up for Our Main Street News? If not, you're missing out. Read our recent edition of our monthly Main Street RI News and sign up for more!

Best Practices in Building Healthy Communities

Grow Smart RI is pleased to offer a detailed presentation on Best Practices in Building Healthy Communities. The presentation is funded by a Grant from the RI Department of Health and was created by William Schechter, a second year graduate student at Tufts University studying urban planning, in consultation with Scott Wolf, Executive Director of Grow Smart RI. This presentation, based primarily on a Grow Smart RI research report completed last year by Brown School of Public Health grad student Ocean Luo, examines best practices nationally in built environment and public health partnerships, and highlights some of the comparable partnerships in RI. It also analyzes keys to success, as well as potential barriers, and underscores the value of evidence-based decision making for those in planning, public health, and policymaking. 

Presentation/Slide Show

Spreadsheet with further information on the Presentation’s case studies

Interactive Map pinpointing location of each highlighted case study

Congratulations to Newport Collaborative Architects, including GSRI Board Member Glenn Gardiner, for their Rhody Award!

On Sunday we were excited to be in the crowd of Preserve RI's 2025 Rhody Awards for Historic Preservation at the Waterfire Arts Center in Providence, where we had the chance to honor the remarkable achievements of individuals and organizations for their efforts in using historic preservation to strengthen our communities, improve quality of life, and address social challenges. Among those honored was Grow Smart RI Board member Glenn Gardiner along with his colleagues Michael Abbott and John Grosvenor of Newport Collaborative Architects for the transformative impact of their work on the Rhode Island landscape over the course of their long careers. Congratulations!

PARTNER NEWS + PROGRAMS

JUST RELEASED: the 2025 Housing Fact Book 
The Housing Fact Book is an annual publication presented by HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University that offers extensive and authoritative housing affordability data for Rhode Island's 39 municipalities. Read it here.

SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK:

Are you directly impacted by the proposed cuts to RIPTA? Do you want to tell your story and be a part of the resistance to these drastic and crippling service cuts? Providence Streets Coalition wants to hear from YOU! Please fill out this survey today.

WEBINARS:

Gil Penalosa of Cities for Everyone welcomes Ellen Dunham-Jones to discuss "Retrofitting Suburbia for Urgent Challenges". Watch it here.

Seniors + Place: a Webinar About Designing Spaces for Aging, Belonging, and Intergenerational Connection​, with Placemaking US on October 23 @1pm. REGISTER. 

Have something to share for our next monthly edition? If so, email Caroline Stevens.

RHODY LOVE NOTES:

a collective mapping project that builds community around beloved places and spaces hidden across Rhode Island.

a Rhody Love Note for you . . .

TO: Blackstone Valley Bike Path

FROM: Jessica David

Dear Blackstone Valley Bike Path,

My secret love is the Blackstone Valley Bike Path and in particular this stretch in Valley Falls. Sunshine, rushing water, wildlife, and hints of Rhode Island past and future. You can pass by dozens of people and still feel like you have the entire world to yourself.

Name: Jessica David

Place: Blackstone Valley Bike Path

Location: Enter at the corner of Jones and Silva Streets, Valley Falls

LOVE THIS? Share Your Love with Grow Smart RI by Making a Donation Today.

Grow Smart RI is proud to be collaborating with AARP all year long to advance smart growth in Rhode Island:

Opt-In Notice. Yes, please share my information with AARP so it can keep me informed about AARP programs, events and offerings. I understand AARP will send me an initial email to confirm my interest in further AARP email communications and my email preferences can be changed at any time. AARP Privacy Policy

Grow Smart RI is also made possible in part through the generosity of

Rhode Island Energy and Marjorie Lee Sundlun.

Grow Smart RI | www.GrowSmartRI.org