Neil has also been a player in local civic debate as Rhode Island has wrestled with the economy, education and other key issues. Steinberg has a long-term view on these challenges, from his time in three different jobs. So why has Rhode Island struggled to make progress on some of the most important issues facing the state? And what role can the Rhode Island Foundation play, under its next leader, Congressman David Cicilline, in helping to move the state forward? I’m Ian Donnis and this week I’m going in-depth with departing Rhode Island Foundation President and CEO Neil Steinberg. First a disclosure: The Public’s Radio gets some financial support from the foundation.
Transcript:
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to the public’s radio.
Neil Steinberg: Thanks very much, Ian, great to be here.
Ian Donnis: You say among the three different jobs where you’ve spent most of your adult life, leading the Rhode Island Foundation has been your favorite. How come?
Neil Steinberg: Well, you know, it’s really the fact that it’s a combination of all the other ones. So when I was a banker, I got community experience, I got business experience. When I worked at Brown and led fundraising, I learned about philanthropy. And this job allows me to bring all those together, and leverage the experience that I have and my network for good for Rhode Island.
Ian Donnis: The foundation’s assets have more than doubled during your watch, in a tangible sense, how does that change what the foundation is been able to do?
Neil Steinberg: Yeah, so it actually tripled, we’ve gone from about 450 million to 1.3 billion. Combination of good investment performance and fundraising. And it’s very simple. The larger our endowment, the larger the amount of grants we can make, we give out four and a half to four and three quarters percent of a larger number. That’s more grants to support the community.
Ian Donnis: You have a long view on Rhode Island since you’ve been in the state for a long time, what is your view on whether Rhode Island is in better or worse shape than when you first came here?
Neil Steinberg: Yeah, you know, a lot of ups and downs. When I first came here, downtown was in tough shape, and then it had a renaissance. And now, due 100% to COVID, not sure if people are coming back to work and empty offices, it’s a little more challenging. But overall, I think we’ve made progress. We recognize the strengths of the state. We recognize our colleges, universities and the shoreline all that. I still think we’re challenged to find our niches on the business side. When I came here, and I was a banker, it was jewelry and textiles. It took too long for us to figure out it wasn’t going to be jewelry and textiles for a long time. And now trying to — is it going to be the blue economy, is going to be life sciences, these are questions we’ve had for a while. We need to really push forward on some of these.
Ian Donnis: To delve into that a little bit deeper, Rhode Island has been trying to reinvent its economy for better than half a century. Why is it? Why has the state been unable to create well defined sectors of growth?
Neil Steinberg: I think that we we do flavor of the moment too often. So I actually found as I’m cleaning up my office, a copy of the famous Greenhouse Compact from 1983-84. And it’s not that if you look at that, that that had all the right things in the formula. But we didn’t act on a lot of those things. Some came over the years naturally. But I think acting, deliberating having a plan and then sticking with it. You know, Massachusetts didn’t all of a sudden become high tech and science many, many, many years of that. They didn’t all of a sudden get great education, many years of working on it. We tend to do things for a few years, and then switch gears, whether it’s because of leadership changes or whatever, we need to stick with some things to doing well.
Ian Donnis: Another area where Yogi Berra’s observation about it’s deja vu all over again, could be the state of the public schools in Rhode Island, particularly Providence, which are a key economic issue for the future of the state. What would you say on that? I mean, we’ve — I remember, there was talk 20-25 years ago about a new consensus emerging about the need to improve public schools. And yet, here we are, things haven’t changed all that much.
Neil Steinberg: Yeah, so easy to get the consensus on they should change more difficult to do it. And to my earlier point of flavors, the moment: 1993, Massachusetts decided this is what they’re going to do, they raise their standards, committed money, passed a constitutional amendment to a right to education, and did a lot of things. And then they’ve stayed the course. New speaker, new governor, they’ve stayed the course and raised their standards. We changed our graduation standards, we changed our test, we change our approach to things and I’m not criticizing any of those individually, other than, let’s pick three or four things and stick with it. If we’re gonna go after reading ability and math, good ol’ reading, writing and arithmetic, let’s bang it out and do it the best we can.
Ian Donnis: In theory, at least people like to believe that Rhode Island’s small size makes it easier to get things done. But sometimes it’s to the contrary, what is your view on how the state’s small size and intimacy affects things?
Neil Steinberg: Yeah, it’s interesting when we did our together RI dinners last year, we talked to people over the state, more often than not the size came as a strength because yes, you can reach out and go see people we can get our congressional delegation all together without them having to fly in and all of that. However, what goes with that size is, as we know, sometimes we can be provincial and northern Rhode Island and Aquidneck Island and, and the Providence County. We’re a very small state, as you noted, we should be able to get our act together. And we shouldn’t be as balkanized as we are. And I’m not talking about consolidating every service. I’m talking about leadership that says this is what’s best for Rhode Island. And let’s all mobilize to do it because in that small state, it should be a strength.
Ian Donnis: We’re talking here with Neal Steinberg, the departing president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation and since you are a former banker of a few economic questions for you. People are not so happy about rising interest rates, but they weren’t happy about inflation before that, do you think the Fed bears blame for running the economy too hot for too long with super low interest rates.
Neil Steinberg: So I was a banker, not an economist, but I’ll give you my two cents, which about what is worth. What I thought the Fed got wrong was transitory inflation. I don’t believe in that term, I don’t think it makes any sense, you either have inflation you don’t. Once inflation starts, it’s hard to corral it. So I think they waited too long. Under this guise of transitory inflation with this pipe dream that it was all of a sudden going to turn around when the supply chain opened up, and it didn’t. So you put out a lot of money that a lot of people needed. That heats up the economy, inflation goes up. And the only way you can control is interest rates. This has happened in many, many cycles. I was around in the 80s where it dwarfed what we’re going through now inflation, interest rates were 12, 15%. And we always get through it, there’s pain, there’s sacrifice. It’s unfair, it hits a lot of the wrong people. But I think whether they overshot or not, I actually don’t think so because I don’t see the inflation coming down as much as it needs to be. And we need to be practical about it. So we have hundreds of millions of dollars coming into the state to fix roads and bridges. And we have too many people who can’t afford gas to put in their car to drive on those roads and bridges. We need to get back into balance, we need to get back into that supply and demand. But I don’t think it was unusual. It was predictable that we’re going to have some inflation, it just stuck around longer. And I don’t know any other way other than banishing the interest rates.
Ian Donnis: Another banking related question for you. How would you describe the effect that the legacy of redlining in Providence and the effect that it’s had on communities of color or low income communities?
Neil Steinberg: Redlining was awful. When I first was a young banker, so this was in the late 70s. I saw the remnants of overt redlining. And people were not given mortgages or loans if they lived in certain areas. And yet, many times, the people who lived in those neighborhoods were hard working, they were very conservative with their money and stuff. And they actually could pay it back better than some of the so-called high rollers that had high income, spent a lot, had a lot of debt. And so from a business point of view, it never made sense to me, that where somebody lived in where their house was and what color they were, or whatever those redlining criteria were – It didn’t make any business sense to me. You go to where there’s a need and the demand. So I think we have the legacy of it. I am not aware that it exists. I know it’s illegal, but that exists. But you have you know, you have unconscious bias that that people have, but to me, it’s very cut and clear. You want to buy a house, you have some money to put down can you afford the rent? Can you afford the mortgage? And no matter where you are, who you are, you get it and you pay it back.
Ian Donnis: We see how the economy has transformed over recent decades with a lot of consolidation, meaning that there are a lot fewer of the locally owned banks, locally on public relations companies, etc. So seemingly, the business class is smaller in size than it was 40 years ago. What effect has that had on Rhode Island?
Neil Steinberg: I think it’s had a significant impact. You know, I grew up in the days when utility companies were local, and when the banks were all local, insurance companies, and others that you named and what you had was you had presence of civic leaders. And I think that’s where we feel it, whether its economic or not, it depends how it was done, sometimes we’ll get a call center that we didn’t have. And so there may be a few more jobs, but I think it’s in the civic leadership front of where you see people, you know, those old stories of how the Biltmore was saved and how PPAC was saved when this person called that person and that person and these key leaders, movers and shakers, got together and got things done. We don’t have as much of that we have the Chamber’s we’ve got the Partnership for Rhode Island, all working in that arena. But it is — there’s no doubt that is different. We’re not a headquarters city.
Ian Donnis: You will be succeeded June 1st by Congressman David Cicilline, he who surprised everyone by announcing plans to step down to become the head of the Rhode Island Foundation. What will it mean for him to build on the steps that you’ve taken to move the Rhode Island Foundation for the next level?
Neil Steinberg: So I think David’s a great choice. I’ve known him for many years, I was not involved in the actual selection. But if you look at what he’s done, his commitment to community, his involvement in the community, his presence, certainly his intelligence and his passion. I think that what he did in operating as mayor brings many of the more attributes actually than as Congressman because he knows groups, and he knows these areas. You know, when you talk to him, he knows the challenges in education, in health and economic security. He knows about the arts and has a commitment to that. And I’m hoping that he will bring also national contacts that could potentially help whether it’s funding or networking or whatever, in Rhode Island, so I’m very excited. He is a great choice and I think he’ll be off to the races.
Ian Donnis: You credit your genetics with being a very youthful 69. What are your plans for when you walk out the Rhode Island Foundation for the last time?
Neil Steinberg: So when I walk out for the last time I’m taking the summer off. So I’ve had a pretty hectic schedule. Not surprisingly, it’s a schedule that’s made for me, generally not by me. And I just look forward to cutting back on some of that. I don’t have specific plans. You know, my wiseguy answer is I don’t play golf and I’m not going to feed the pigeons in the park. So I will find things to do, whether it’s going on some boards or commissions, maybe doing a little writing or teaching, but no firm here’s where I’m going. I don’t want my schedule to be busier than what I’ve been doing now.
Ian Donnis: And if you had a parting message for the people of Rhode Island what would it be?
Neil Steinberg: Look forward, be positive and then most of all, take rhetoric to action. Listen to Nike and just do it. That’s what we’ve been missing.
Ian Donnis: Neil Steinberg, it’s always been a pleasure to talk with you. We wish you the best in your retirement.
Neil Steinberg: Thank you very much. Great to see you.
The Rhode Island Senate, and particularly the Senate Judiciary Committee, used to be a dead end for progressive pieces of legislation. But things started to change due to shifting public attitudes and grassroots activism. A case in point was how the General Assembly passed same-sex marriage legislation in 2013, just one year after an earlier attempt to move the bill forward came up empty. Then in 2019, the legislature approved a state-based right to an abortion, even though both legislative leaders at the time personally opposed abortion. The latest case came this week when the top two Democrats in the Senate, President Dominick Ruggerio and Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, made the difference on a vote expanding abortion rights to cover women on Medicaid and the state employee health plan. You can read more about how the General Assembly has changed, in my Friday TGIF column, posting around 4 this afternoon on my twitter at IanDon and on our website at the publics radio.org.
That’s our show for this week. Our producer is James Baumgartner.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
