2024 Business Women Awards
INDUSTRY LEADER | GOVERNMENT: Bianca Policastro
City of Pawtucket director of planning and redevelopment; Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency executive director
PAWTUCKET is an up-and-coming city, both within the Ocean State and across the U.S. Recently, Money Magazine named Pawtucket as one of the country’s 50 best cities in which to live.
Bianca Policastro, who serves as the city’s director of planning and redevelopment, as well as the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency’s executive director, said that growth opportunities for the city at the moment are “unbelievable.”
With nearly two decades of experience working in Pawtucket, Policastro says those who work for the city have an obligation to think of everyone who chooses to live in Pawtucket or pay it a visit. Therefore, building the city back up to relevancy was critical for economic vibrancy.
Policastro was instrumental in bringing a year-round homeless shelter to Pawtucket. Open 24/7, it offers sleeping accommodations for 31 individuals and seating available for an additional 90 to 100 individuals.
The site at 1139 Main St. on a busy R.I. Public Transit Authority bus line also provides access to a caseworker and food and personal hygiene products. The city opened the site in February 2023 with Open Doors, a nonprofit organization serving individuals who have been involved in the justice system and those who are unhoused, and in partnership with the Pawtucket Housing Authority.
“Homelessness is becoming an epidemic [around the country]. I’m committed to having a system that treats all individuals with dignity,” Policastro said.
Keeping and engaging staff has been a big challenge for the city, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Policastro, who manages a 25-person staff. With a significant dearth of people wanting to go into municipal work, Policastro says no one knows what a city’s planning department does.
“Whether you’re building a fence or a $400 million soccer stadium, they all come through this department,” Policastro said. “We don’t want development to happen in silos. We connect the big projects with the midsize and little projects; we’ve secured federal funding to connect the Blackstone River bike path to the stadium line and to build a river walk on both sides of the Blackstone River for the public’s benefit.”
Other major projects Policastro had a hand in include the new Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center and the soon-to-be-built Tidewater Landing soccer stadium that will house Rhode Island FC in 2025.
Policastro knew the Tidewater Landing soccer stadium deal “inside and out” and provided valuable insight and feedback, she said. Pawtucket Mayor Doland R. Grebian says Policastro made tough decisions throughout the entire process of closing the stadium financing.
“Bianca’s strong work ethic, vibrant personality and relationship-building skills … [make her] a valuable asset to our team,” Grebian said.
In a few years, Policastro’s team will take on the project of transforming McCoy Stadium into a unified high school to replace the aging Charles E. Shea and William E. Tolman high schools. Policastro said the city can focus on development, even in low-income neighborhoods, without causing gentrification.
“We must have designated affordable housing opportunities and ensure that job creation and job growth are attached to these walkable, bikeable and safe developments,” Policastro said.
A huge advocate for her staff’s professional development, Policastro helps her employees who wish to be cross-trained learn new skills. With several senior women reporting to her, Policastro also encourages those women and others to attend events, such as the RISE Women’s Leadership Conference.
“Bianca has done a great job at creating a sense of partnership in her department,” Grebian said. “Her employees in planning and zoning have built close relationships, both in and outside of the office, thanks to her leadership.”
Calling herself “loud, fast, fair and tough to work for,” Policastro said she does not ask anyone to do what she hasn’t done herself. She’s justifiably proud that some of the youths from teen employment programs she ran years ago continue to reach out to her for resume and networking advice, and former staff members have come to work for her in her current position.
“It’s a continuity of relationships,” she said. “I’m successful at engaging with staff.”
