August Newsletter

It’s August! Whether you're listening to August by Taylor Swift, Agosto by Bad Bunny, August by Flipturn, or patiently waiting to play End of August by Noah Kahan, there’s no shortage of music to celebrate the occasion.

We wanted to take a moment at the start off our newsletter to say thank you to our summer intern, Leah, who is headed back to school! We always enjoy hosting interns and appreciate their hard work. Leah was a great addition to the team this summer—working at nearly all of our engagement events! Thank you to 11th Hour Racing for supporting this work.

While we’ve been out and about, we’ve been thinking on how to engage with our community even more! As you may know, we are leading the development of an Islandwide Climate Resilience Plan, which will serve as a guidebook to reducing our community’s risk to severe weather events.

To better gather community input for the plan, we are hosting a series of community listening sessions. Join us for one or all of these events to provide your input to the plan! Each session will cover one of our thematic areas: Land (8/25), Water (9/10), and People (9/17). We will also be hosting a fourth session for Spanish-Speakers (10/14). Please RVSP using Eventbrite!

We Need Your Help!

If you haven't yet, please fill out our

Climate Resilience Plan survey!

If you have already completed the survey,

forward the link to a friend!

You can learn more about our

Climate Resilience Plan on our webpage.

Climate Resilience Plan Survey

Gardens Galore!

Native Plants Blogpost

To learn more about planting native plants at home, we took a trip to our friend Jim Fry’s Newport home. Jim redid his garden about three years ago, with a goal of planting nearly all native plantings. “The idea is to try and create this whole ecosystem so that… you get more [insects and] birds.”

Read the blog post to learn more about planting native plants in your own backyard!

Blogpost

Flooding to Flowers:

Rain Garden Pilot Program

Join our Projects team for a coffee at the Almy Pond right-of-way to learn more about our upcoming FREE rain garden assessments in the neighborhood!

Coffee and light bites will be provided. Already registered for our pilot program? Drop by to say hi to the neighbors!

🌱 Applications have officially Lawn-ched!

Flooding to Flowers is a new rain garden design series transforming stormwater challenges into beautiful landscape solutions! Accompanying our Almy Pond Wetland Restoration Project, homeowners in the Almy Pond Watershed are invited to apply for a chance to receive a FREE rain garden assessment from Aquidneck Resilience, in partnership with local landscapers O'Conner Design Build and Wild & Scenic Gardens.

This pilot program will help residents turn problem runoff into pollinator-friendly, resilient gardens that benefit both their property and Aquidneck Island's watersheds! Applications close August 28th.

🌧️ From flooding to flowers- come be part of the solution!

Explore Our Webpage!

Have you checked out our website recently? We have loads of resources available, from water quality monitoring updates to rain garden guides to general information about climate risks!

Our Webpage

Water We Up to?!

Middletown Conservation Commission

Our Engagement Team has been conducting commission drop-ins to work with the municipalities on climate resilience efforts! Recently, we stopped by the Middletown Conservation Commission to present on our work.

Engagement is out and about!

We had a blast this past month at the ACT Growers’ Market, Portsmouth Farmers’ Market, Newport Film, and Tiverton Farmers' Market!

Resilience in the News

When Extreme Heat Becomes Routine: Design Strategies for a Warming Rhode Island

What can Rhode Island do about extreme heat? It starts with a lot of planning.

CRMC Tables Consideration of Cliff Walk Repairs

Consideration of a Cliff Walk project on the closed section has been tabled after an impasse between landowners and CRMC.

Student Innovation Plays Key Role in Growing This Island Farm

Portmouth AgInnovation invites students to take part in farming!

Confusing Transit Maze Winds Its Way Through Newport’s North End

EcoRI interviews Bike Newport about transportation challenges in Newport's North End.

On the Horizon

MLKC Center Tabling - 8/12

Say hi to our engagement team at the MLKC Center! We will be in the lobby with our values voting activity from 10-12PM.

Newport Film - 8/13

Newport Film is back for the summer 2026 season. We will be tabling at the August 13^th screening of Newport and the Great Folk Dream at Miantonomi Park!

ACT Growers’ Market - 8/19

Come say hi to our engagement team at the Aquidneck Growers’ Market from 2PM to 6PM! The market features lots of local produce, goods, and fun! This Saturday Market is located at the Newport YMCA.

Portsmouth Market - 8/20

Find us in Portsmouth at the Farmers’ Market, located at Glen Farm. We will have a table setup and be around to talk about island resilience!

Watch Read Listen: Green Transportation

Watch

Our very own RIPTA Rant! Take a look at our recent Instagram reels series, which interviews community members on the RIPTA about their public transit hot takes!

Read

Check out 2 feet 2 bucks, a local initiative to highlight neighborhoods you can travel to using just the RIPTA public transit and walking. It’s amazing where Rhode Islanders can go using just their own two feet and two bucks! And bonus, if you’re riding in Newport the 67 is free for the summer season—just two feet needed!

Listen

The MBTA has a podcast called “Spilling the T,” where they discuss transit in the greater Boston area. This episode discusses transit and climate, a perfect combination!

Check us out on Socials!

Reminder to keep us with us on Instagram, and give our podcast Island Folk a listen!

Community Bulletin

Newport Comprehensive Plan Public Workshop - 8/27

The City of Newport is conducting public engagement for it’s upcoming Comprehensive Plan update. Attend their public open house if you’d like to contribute your voice to the dialogue about the future of Newport!

aquidneckresilience.org

42 Spring St Newport, RI