State gets $9.9 million housing grant
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded Rhode Island a grant of $9,949,000 for the state’s Community Development Block Grant Program, HOME Investment Partnership Program and Emergency Shelter funds for the 1999 fiscal year. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed announced the award. The CDBG program, which provides funds to agencies which offer food, clothing and emergency shelter to low-income individuals, as well as physical improvements to public facilities, housing rehabilitation, public services and economic development, will get the largest share of the grant: $5.6 million. The HOME Investment Partnership program, which provides funds for affordable housing as well as rental assistance for tenants will receive $4 million. The balance of the grant will go to private, nonprofit organizations which provide emergency shelter to the homeless.
U.S. awards $1.7 million to Providence schools
PROVIDENCE – A $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help finance three Renaissance Centers in the Providence School System was announced last week. The grant was awarded through the department’s 21st Century Community Learning Center Program. The Renaissance Centers will provide literacy, nutritional and health services for elementary and middle school students through before and after school, as well as summer programs. About 900 schools in 300 communities participate in the program, which is designed to provide mentoring, drug and violence prevention counseling, and recreational opportunities in a supervised drug-free environment.
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HRIC Council offering grants
PROVIDENCE – The state Human Resources Investment Council is offering its ninth round of Competitiveness Improvement Grants totaling $1 million in matching funds. Individual companies are eligible for up to $25,000. Three or more companies acting in concert could be eligible for up to $50,000. The funds are intended to support training projects such as work force development, high performance work organization, continuous improvement, technology application, managing a diverse work force, and marketing development.
Dennis E. Stark
URI appoints new v.p. for business, financeKINGSTON – Dennis E. Stark, of Pawtucket, a senior financial executive and chief financial officer with several banks and financial management companies for more than 30 years, has been appointed vice president for business and finance at the University of Rhode Island. In announcing the appointment, URI President Robert L. Carothers said, “At a time when the university has both great financial opportunities and great challenges before us, Dennis will bring a fresh and creative approach to managing our resources and helping us realize our aspirations.” Most recently Stark was a partner with Financial Management Partners of Rhode Island and Maryland. Among his positions prior were the following: chief financial officer for Eastern Bank in Lynn, Mass., chief financial officer for Cenfed Bank in Pasadena. Calif., and in 1975 became chief financial officer of Old Stone Bank where he began his career in1965. Star earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting at Illinois Wesleyan University and his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
Large port key to fiscal support for Quonset
NORTH KINGSTOWN – A New Hampshire consulting firm has reported that only those proposals calling for large container handling at Quonset/Davisville or a megaport will attract private investors. The consultants, Normandeau Associates, said only 8 of the 22 designs developed by the Quonset/Davisville stakeholders would attract investors. Seven of these designs called for one form or another of large load centers to handle 20 or 40 foot steel containers for shipment throughout the Northeast as well as into the Midwest via the rail freight connection that is planned. The eighth proposal calls for a megaport. These are the kinds of proposals preferred by the Quonset Point Partners, a Boston based private development company that wants to build a 650 acre cargo container hub at Quonset for international steamship lines. These are also the proposals opposed principally for environmental reasons by many of the 50 stakeholders who submitted 38 proposals for consideration, which were narrowed down to 22 by the consultants, according to the Providence Journal.
Raytheon gets Navy contract for mine system
PORTSMOUTH – Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $5.8 million contract by the Navy to develop a new underwater mine warfare system at its plant here. The system’s technology was developed at Raytheon’s facility in Mukilteo, Wash., but the bulk of work will be done here, according to the announcement by U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy. The system is intended to develop underwater mines for shallow water, under 150 feet, the announcement said.
Strike averted at Raytheon
PORTSMOUTH – Raytheon Co. and union negotiators averted a strike by agreeing to a contract covering 153 employees through 2001. The agreement between the company and Local 587 of the International Association of Machinists Aerospace Workers calls for 5 and4 percent wage increases over the next two years, as well as reclassifications for most of the employees that will mean an additional wage increase. Raytheon, in turn, got increased flexibility in assigning work to employees, according to the Providence Journal.
Combined film festivals plan August events
PROVIDENCE – The Providence–Rhode Island International Film Festival, combining the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Providence Convergence Film & Video Festival, will hold the state’s third annual event from August 6 through 19 at locations throughout Providence and on the Blackstone Valley. But before the August activities there will be a film forum on May 5, a collaboration between the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and the Providence Film Commission to introduce community leaders, artists and industry members to Rhode Island as a film production destination. In June, Kids Eye, hands on workshops for children from 5 to 15 using video camcorders to make a movie will be held in Providence and Pawtucket along with the Convergence Festival. Then from August 6 through 8, the New England Screenwriters Conference and Film Expo will include a competition, conference and expo for screenwriters. A master film production class is scheduled from August 9 through 11 for filmmakers to learn elements of film production, planning, budgeting and technique
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
