The Working Cities Challenge is a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston program designed to create an economic resurgence in communities after "years of population and economic decline." To that end, the Boston Fed is having seven of the state's urban-core communities – Central Falls, Cranston, East Providence, Newport, Pawtucket, Providence and Westerly – compete to receive $300,000 to $500,000 grants to implement plans they have come up with.
For example, Westerly is looking to help its North End neighborhood by taking advantage of the coming Westerly Higher Education and Job Skills Center, which is designed to eventually connect 1,000 students a year to jobs that require up-to-date technical training.
Central Falls is looking to take back one street so that it is "respected by its residents and that's a great place to do business and visit," said that city's director of planning.
The project is a follow-up to one the Boston Fed did in Massachusetts, which has attracted additional capital, although not as much as might have been hoped for. In fact, the business community in the Bay State has been hesitant to invest its own capital in the project. But without sustained – and substantial – effort by local businesses, this concept is not likely to make lasting improvement in the selected cities.
Rhode Island is no different. Without business community buy-in, this interesting project is not likely to do much more than generate headlines for a while and leave the communities little better off than before they took part. •