Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council:
River Rangers work to improve quality of life – for themselves and others
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| As bike path monitors, WRWC River Rangers are trained in bike safety and maintenance. | They are role models for neighborhood children, environmental educators, community organizers, landscapers, artists, and more.
“They” are the River Rangers for the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC), a group of young people who each summer maintain the bike path, river, and parks along the Fred Lippitt Woonasquatucket Greenway on Providence’s West Side. At the same time, the young people are building marketable job skills, receiving leadership training, and gaining self-confidence.
“The program helps engage young people – our future leaders – in the community. It offers different opportunities to learn and get involved. They do maintenance and landscaping, but they also provide education and lead programming in the parks,” explains Amanda Blevins, who helps design and lead the River Rangers Program as a program assistant at WRWC.
Last summer, the program employed a dozen 18 to 24 year olds, each for 20 hours per week, following a targeted outreach to high school guidance counselors to attract high school seniors from the Olneyville, Hartford, Manton, and Smith Hill neighborhoods of Providence, as well as from Johnston.
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| River Rangers Jennifer Recinos and Zane Silva put some final touches on the newest Greenway Bike Path mural. | Each summer, in addition to their day-to-day clean-ups, maintenance, and patrolling of the parks and bike path, the Rangers are involved in a big, visible project. Last year, they painted a huge mural; two summers ago, there was a focus on maintenance and landscaping.
“There’s stiff competition for the positions,” continues Alicia Lehrer, executive director at WRWC, who notes the jobs pay minimum wage while offering “life training.” She recalls one young man who was on the wrong path – skipping school, hanging out with gang members, and causing problems for his parents. He was hired as a River Ranger and soon changed his ways. “His mother had tears in her eyes when she talked about the program and how it changed her son,” Lehrer says.
“River Rangers was a boost of confidence for him,” Blevins agrees.
“They’re all success stories,” Lehrer explains of the program’s participants, noting Rangers who have gotten jobs or gone back to school as a result of their experiences.
“This is a unique, urban environmental project,” states Jennifer Pereira, grant programs officer at the Foundation who leads the environment sector. “The challenge of engaging community members in this kind of effort is huge. This program is a model. It’s helping create a vision for the neighborhood, as well as providing critical environmental stewardship.”
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| Rangers steady canoes for youth from Joslin Community Center, helping them to see the river from a new angle. | The program also is well-aligned with the Foundation’s environment sector goal to maximize the conservation, restoration, and stewardship of Rhode Island’s natural resources. “The Woonasquatucket River Greenway Project…revitalizes the major hidden resource of the West Side of the City and is a destination for neighborhood residents and people throughout Providence and Rhode Island,” explains WRWC’s website.
The Rangers play a very real role in this goal, not only in revitalizing this “major hidden resource” through their maintenance and landscaping work, but also in making it a pleasant, safe, popular “destination.”
“These kids are able to talk with anybody about the river, its challenges, and its assets. They’re really ‘mini-organizers’ who work to get people involved with activities in the parks,” Blevins explains, noting that WRWC works with local community centers and youth organizations to get the word out about Ranger-organized and led programs that have included such diverse activities as weekly yoga classes, ultimate Frisbee games, a walking club, and bike rides for children.
“The young kids in the community look up to the Rangers. They’re the ‘cool kids.’ These guys (the Rangers) really care about the neighborhood,” Lehrer states proudly.
The Rhode Island Foundation has funded the River Rangers program each of the past three years. Other funders have included the Merck Family Fund, United Way, and the City of Providence.
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| Rangers teach youth from the Hartford Boys and Girls Club about what a watershed is and how they can help keep the river clean | “We’re looking for more creative ways to fund the program and are getting local companies to sponsor Rangers. Funding is really a challenge,” Lehrer states.
But the challenge is not stopping them from planning the 2011 River Rangers program or from helping more youth to develop the job skills, leadership training, and self-confidence they’ll need to succeed in life.
Learn more about the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and its River Rangers program.
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