Dwayne Keys | President, South Providence Neighborhood Association
1. South Providence residents have organized to oppose several projects recently that they thought damaged the neighborhood. Is the community better organized now? Our community in the south side of Providence has always been better organized. Through the support of the South Providence Neighborhood Association, our community is transitioning its organizing methods from being reactive in such development experiences to being proactive with envisioning what residents want for our neighborhood along with communicating that vision on a consistent basis. SPNA is working toward launching participatory budgeting, a concept that provides for residents to vote on projects in their area to receive city funding, in our neighborhood through a potential partnership with the city and other interested parties.
2. What development is ongoing in the area that you think works well for the community? Development projects that fulfill robust community engagement with the neighbors and resolve potential negative impacts to the neighborhood before being implemented are the ones that work very well.
3. Is gentrification emerging as a problem? Gentrification, in its purest definition, means improvement. Our community loves and welcomes the improvement. It’s the displacement, occurring as a result of such improvement, that our residents have been experiencing that is the problem. The displacement in the south side of Providence is not an emerging problem. We’ve experienced it over several decades in various forms, with housing affordability being the current form.
4. Do you see evidence of more cross-neighborhood organizing in Providence? There are multiple examples of cross-neighborhood organizing involving SPNA since our inception in December 2015. That … organizing with SPNA has increased to include participating in coalitions that address issues at both the citywide and state levels … as well as working with other neighborhood groups on specific topics.
5. How has the pandemic affected the neighborhood? Like many other historically excluded groups throughout the nation and the world, our neighbors had long ago built up their strength and resiliency to endure and overcome such challenges. As with the experiences of development and displacement in our neighborhood, our neighbors are adapting as best as we can to the safety protocols, some of which … have taken more time to adjust to them.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
