Mayors meet to take on poverty
PROVIDENCE – Central Falls Mayor James Diossa joined Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian at Rhode Island College Wednesday morning to discuss how to address poverty in their respective cities and across Rhode Island while working with faith-based communities.
The mayors’ discussion was part of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty’s eighth annual conference. The theme of this year’s conference was “Tikkun-Olam/Repair Rhode Island”.
Prior to the mayors’ workshop, Maxine Richman – co-chair of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty – said: “We are here to talk about an even deeper level of repair: a healing of the fundamental brokenness that has led one in every eight Rhode Island households to lack adequate food, while one in five Rhode Island children live in households below the federal poverty line and 14.3
percent of all Rhode Islanders live in poverty – the highest rate in New England.”
Diossa said that as mayor of a square-mile city that has gone through so much in recent years, he was proud to say that he has been able to build strong relationships with the faith-based community.
Diossa said that the city has a high poverty rate and hunger is a common topic that is discussed among the faithbased community in Central Falls. One of the ways the city has addressed the issue of hunger, Diossa said, is through securing grants to give to city churches for food pantries.
“We all know food is essential to these families,” Diossa said. Additionally, the mayor said that the city has convened a group of religious leaders among the community and has had much success meeting with them. However, he said the reality is that each religious group has a captive audience and it is important to keep the partners working together.
Additionally, he said the faith-based community in Central Falls has been “very vocal” about a number of issues, including providing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants and the reduction of illegal guns in the city.
When asked how his city can calm insecurities and break down barriers, Diossa said that Central Falls has done a good job working with partners for affordable housing, noting a “great collaboration” between his city and Pawtucket and the PawtucketCentral Falls Development Corporation.
As for how the city is working with the General Assembly, Diossa addressed the importance of transportation and the effort to try to expand services, noting the continued endeavors to bring a train station hub to the Pawtucket and Central Falls line.
Elorza said that in Providence, conversations are ongoing on how to repair communities. He said that “if we want to hit our stride, we have to engage everyone in the community and the faithbased community to be an integral part of that effort.” He added that there is “so much untapped energy to give back,” within Providence’s faith-based community, adding that building connections and synergistic relationships will be very helpful.
“In Providence, there is a sense that the faith community has been somewhat held at arms length,” Elorza said. “We’re reaching out and it turns out there is almost perfect overlap between what we’re doing in the city and what they’re doing in churches and the community.”
Elorza said that he has met with groups of pastors and ministers to have conversations about the needs in the community, which have “already spawned a number of great initiatives … We have a spiritual calling but we have a civic and social-minded calling. Let’s join forces and work together. We want to accomplish the same goals.”
Elorza, however, said Providence faces significant challenges on the issue of homelessness in the capital city. He said they have to begin by acknowledging a number of “systemic issues” that feed into those challenges, whether they are related to economics, housing, substance abuse, or mental health.
He said the city has about 500 properties that have sat abandoned for more than five years, saying that is “just a shame. It brings down the community.”
However, he said that there exists an initiative that rehabilitates properties, saying that once they are ready to be marketed and sold, they want homeowners and homebuyers coming into Providence, not investors simply looking to flip the properties.
Avedisian referenced a reentry program in Warwick for once incarcerated people. He said that while it did not win many plaudits when it was started, he said now that the process is understood, it has become a valuable partnership. He also said that the health center in the city offers programming for people who were addicted to opioids.
“We want you to succeed when you come back into our community,” Avedisian said. “It is a welcome resource instead of a fearful reintroduction into the community.”
He lamented the lack of rental property in Warwick and noted that the city is almost out of land for new development. He said the issue is “suburban versus urban … Some communities not wanting affordable housing versus the ones who’d be OK having it and would welcome it.”
Avedisian also addressed the earned-income tax credit, or EITC, a refundable tax credit for low- to moderateincome working people and couples. He said the amount of money left on the table can be “horrifying” but said it’s valuable to perform outreach to people who could qualify.
The mayor joked about the political affiliations in Rhode Island, noting that the state has three political parties – Democrat, Republican, and mayors. He said that despite their political persuasion, mayors and civic leaders in the Ocean State get together and he said the “cooperation among all of the executive officials, it’s incredible.”
In addition to the mayors’ conference Wednesday, other workshops available included “Diving Deeper Into Our 2016 Legislative Agenda”, “How Congregations Can Support Aging Community Members”, and “Racial/Ethnic Economic Disparities Among Youth”. The event’s keynote speaker was Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C. Pesner addressed the issue of poverty and what steps need to be taken by the faith community to address destitution in the Ocean State.