Celebrating Community
Centennial Gift: A $10 Million Campaign to Restore and Preserve Roger Williams Park
In honor of our centennial in 2016, we are leading a $10 million campaign to preserve and enhance one of Rhode Island’s most treasured spaces, Roger Williams Park.
Comprised of over 435 beautiful acres, offering a range of recreational and educational opportunities, representing Rhode Island's rich history and the diversity of our people, the People's Park has attracted generation after generation of Rhode Islanders for over 100 years. There is great opportunity at Roger Williams Park to expand programming, improve infrastructure, and steward the Park for generations to come.

Learn more about the park and the campaign
Centennial Community Grants Program
We celebrated our Centennial by funding projects that will bring life to Rhode Island's remarkable communities. In 2016, we awarded grants to fund community-building activities in every city and town.
Grants were made to nonprofit organizations, municipal governments, and community agencies to fund efforts that will build bikes lanes, design walking tours, plant community gardens, install historical markers and monuments, and more.
Check out the map and
read the blog post to learn more about individual projects in your community.
Community Contributions
We are so pleased to introduce Community Contributions, a new series of guest posts by Rhode Island leaders, thinkers, and doers responding to this prompt: This is what's next
Two beliefs generated this series:
-
The best conversations are sparked when people connect on the level of ideas and values. Every day, we meet smart, courageous Rhode Islanders who share a deep commitment to our community, made manifest in thousands of different ways that are inspiring and important.
- The Foundation’s centennial commemoration is as much – perhaps even more so – about looking forward as it is about celebrating the past. With you, we are eager to shape our next century and Rhode Island’s.
Guest bloggers were asked to reflect on their personal and professional experience, perspective, and aspirations for what challenges are, could be, or must be next for our community. They may direct their remarks toward Rhode Island, a specific issue area or community, or the Foundation.
If this series provokes a new idea or connection for you, we’ll consider it a success! Please join the conversation on social media using #RIF100.

Ted Almon, President & CEO, The Claflin Company
"T
here are countless thorny questions involved in any attempt to streamline a system of the scale and longevity of our healthcare system." View
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Curt Columbus, Artistic Director, Trinity Repertory Company
"I
t's no surprise to any Rhode Islander, indeed, to any American, that we've witnessed a profound shift in our local communities in the last several decades." View
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Armeather Gibbs, Senior Community Development Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Director, Working Cities Challenge in Rhode Island
"D
iverse communities across our state are part of the fabric that make Rhode Island a great place to live, work, and raise families." View
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Ron St. Pierre, Host, NewsRadio 920 Morning Show
"H
aving worked in talk radio for over 30 years, most here in Rhode Island, I’m afraid I’ve become more of a pessimist than an optimist regarding the future." View
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More Contributions