Work for Rivka Reynolds started to look different a few months ago. As a peer recovery specialist for Thrive Behavioral Health in West Warwick, she used to spend her days visiting the homeless people she supports in their encampments. Now, she spends a lot more time driving around, looking for people. “Before we had an […]
Nina Sparling
Nina Sparling is a reporter with The Public's Radio's investigative team. She has written for outlets including The New York Times, The Paris Review, Vogue, Logic Magazine, and the Global Investigative Journalism Network. Her radio work has appeared on Marketplace, KQED, Alaska Public Media, Capital Public Radio, and with the podcast 70 Million.
Posted inHousing, Local, Metro Desk
Long-awaited ECHO Village shelter set to open this week in Providence
A bed with a colorful quilt, an AC unit, a heater, a shelf to dry dishes — these are among the amenities homeless people can look forward to at ECHO Village, the pallet-shelter community opening in Providence this week. After years of conversation and months of delays, organizers expect people experiencing homelessness will finally start […]
Posted inHealth, Local, Politics
Trump Administration actions cause ‘widespread panic’ among some RI scientists
Concern washed over the scientific research community in Rhode Island after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services paused all external communications on Jan. 22. When researchers from across the country began sharing news about sudden cancellations of so-called “study sections,” grant review panels coordinated through the National Institutes of Health, the worry only […]
Posted inEconomy, Local, Politics
R.I., Mass. sue Trump administration over freeze in federal funding
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, President Trump issued a memo rescinding the funding freeze. Attorneys General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island and Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts have joined a coalition of other AGs in suing the Trump Administration over its sudden freeze in federal spending via grants, loans, and other avenues. “What a ham-handed way to […]
Posted inHousing, Local, Metro Desk
RI Housing Secretary says pallet shelters at ECHO Village will open in a matter of weeks
The long-awaited 45 shelter beds at ECHO Village, Rhode Island’s first pallet shelter community, will soon be available to the state’s rapidly growing homeless population, according to testimony from Rhode Island Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard at a senate hearing on Tuesday afternoon. “I’ve not given a date in the past because we’ve disappointed so many […]
Posted inHousing, Local, Metro Desk
As winter drags on, Providence’s unhoused people want to see long-term solutions
Durell Parker arrived at Providence City Hall last Tuesday evening, dubious. With wind chill, the temperature outside felt like the single digits. He’d spent the previous night, and most nights before that for the past several years, outside, in a tent. When an outreach worker told him the city council was using its chambers as […]
Posted inHousing, Local, Metro Desk
Providence City Council opens makeshift warming center in council chambers
The council chambers at Providence City Hall transformed into an impromptu overnight warming center on Tuesday night. Volunteers dropped off hot pizza, fresh fruit, bottled water, and winter coats as unhoused people filtered in off the streets. “I’ve got to stay here because I have nowhere else to stay. I’ve been sleeping outside,” 62-year-old Bill […]
Posted inThe Weekly Catch
A new strategy for overdose prevention, a bid to allow an illegal seawall, and more
Rhode Island is now home to the first state-sanctioned overdose prevention center in the country. Advocates hope the new facility will lead to fewer overdose-related deaths, and more people getting connected with drug treatment. And the Quidnessett Country Club is trying to get retroactive approval for an illegal sea wall that they *already* built. But they hit a hurdle this week with a subcommittee of the state Coastal Resources Management Council. Also, we hear about the centuries-old process of woodblock-printed wallpaper, from the curator of the RISD Museum’s exhibit, “The Art of French Wallpaper.” That and more on this week’s show.
Posted inHealth, Local
Rhode Island opens first state-sanctioned overdose prevention center in the nation
Providence is now home to the country’s first state-sanctioned facility for people to use illegal drugs under medical supervision. The nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW on Tuesday held a ribbon-cutting to celebrate a years-long effort to bring an overdose prevention center to the Ocean State. Advocates hope that the new facility will lead to fewer overdose-related deaths […]
Posted inHealth, Local
He uses drugs. So what will Providence’s Overdose Prevention Center mean for him?
Jason first started using fentanyl a few years ago, when the pandemic threw his life off balance. By now, he’s used to hiding his drug use. “You duck into, like, an alley, or behind a car or somewhere where no one’s going to see you,” he said. The Public’s Radio is only using Jason’s first […]
