About a year from now Travelers Aid will move into a renovated YMCA building on Broad Street – on the outskirts of downtown. The shelter will abandon its deteriorating building on Union Street in the heart of Downcity. The move should pave the way for a long-awaited rehabilitation of the area, where old buildings are being transformed into apartments and there is talk of a boutique hotel.
Travelers Aid officials have said they aren’t in any way being forced out by the city. That may well be the case. The agency needs more space, better facilities.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
But it is clear that the city and those who support the continued development of Downcity – including this newspaper — are pleased that Travelers Aid has found a new home.
We do believe, however, it is important that while Travelers Aid may someday be out of sight of Downcity, the agency is no way put out of our minds.
Travelers Aid and agencies like it serve a noble purpose throughout the country, and that is indeed the case here in Providence, where about 1,000 homeless and disconnected take advantage of Travelers Aid services each day.
Travelers Aid has made modest strides of late to connect itself to the business community. For example, the agency has started a program to train adults to work as cleaning staff in hotels. There are other training programs as well. Anne M. Nolan, president of Travelers Aid here, will tell you that there are countless numbers of homeless working in area businesses every day.
“We get so isolated in our own little lives that we don’t recognize the difficulty people are having at the lower end of the salary range,” she said.
Travelers Aid’s move out of Downcity should allow the agency to grow in a larger and more accommodating facility. And it should allow for unprecedented development of downtown’s old core.
These are good things. We simply hope that Travelers Aid continues to get the kind of support, both from city officials and from the business community, that it so richly deserves.
