What is at the New Bedford waterfront? It is the 5 projects in the Seaport Art Walk.

The Heirs of the Land by Marcus Cusick, Kyle Couture, Chief George Spring Buffalo and Chief Daryl Black Eagle

Read the complete article at South Coast Today
Seth Chitwood, Standard-Times
Published July 16, 2021

NEW BEDFORD — The Seaport Art Walk is back, this year titled “Tides and Times,” for viewing through October on the New Bedford waterfront. The installations were created by local artists reflecting on the pandemic.

The idea for the Seaport Art Walk began as a seed in the mind of Seaport Art Walk creator Jessica Bregoli when she was 8 years old. It started when her mother had her work with gardener Emily John, in the flowerbeds on the New Bedford waterfront.

Marcus Cusick and Kyle Couture, of Open Eye Movement, worked with Chief George Spring Buffalo and Chief Daryl Black Eagle of the Pocasset on a mural based on the true histories surrounding the Pokanoket nation.

“The mural aims to depict portraits of local Native American chiefs and their descendants showing how, over time, the nation was resilient and able to survive,” wrote Cusick in a statement.

“The Algonquian language was nearly lost to oppression of a people and their culture, and is kept alive today by the descendants of a nation who first greeted the pilgrims, the Pocasset Wampanoag tribe of the Pokanoket nation,” he stated.

R.I. Foundation awards $660K to 11 minority-led nonprofits

Funds will focus on helping BIPOC-led organizations expand services to communities of color across Rhode Island

Rhode Island FoundationBy Chris Barnett | November 22, 2021
See Press Release

The Rhode Island Foundation today announced it has awarded $660,000 in grants to build the capacity of nonprofits led by people of color. Eleven organizations will receive $60,000 apiece over the course of the two-year program. Only nonprofits led by people identifying as Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous or multi-racial were eligible.

“Structural racism is a growth barrier to many organizations. Our grants give them the resources necessary to break the ‘starvation cycle’ that limits their ability to maintain or grow their programs.”

– Angie Ankoma, executive director of the Foundation’s Equity Leadership Initiative and a vice president at the Foundation

The nonprofits will co-create the learning curriculum, which will cover topics such as good governance, fundraising, communications planning and financial planning. In addition, consultants of color will provide workshops and technical assistance.

Movement Ground Farm of Tiverton is among the nonprofits receiving grants. The 10-acre farm gives people of color the opportunity to work the land in a communal effort to raise vegetables, fruit and meat birds for sale and their own consumption.

“In order to straddle giant leaps forward in organizational growth and expansion of critical farm infrastructure, we are looking inward to build the leadership capacity to carry out the work. We will use the grant to build sustainable, perennial, BIPOC-leadership in our farm organization by developing a cooperative model of leadership and commit to practices that invest equitably in the organization, the land, and its workers,” said Kohei Ishihara, executive director. “This grant is just what we needed – a flexible and unrestricted source of income to meet us in this dynamic moment of growth.”

The other recipients are A Leadership Journey in Providence, Mixed Magic Theatre and Cultural Events in Pawtucket, Movement Education Outdoors in Woonsocket, Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust in Cranston, Reentry Campus Program in Providence, Sankofa Community Connection in Newport, Sunrise Forever in Providence, Women’s Refugee Care in Providence, Mount Hope Community Center in Providence and Youth in Action in Providence.

The capacity-building program is just one facet of the Rhode Island Foundation’s broad, three-year, $8.5 million plan to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and access – with a first focus on racial equity – above and beyond its traditional yearly grant-making.

Recent work includes launching the Equity Leadership Initiative to develop a pipeline of leaders of color for positions of influence throughout Rhode Island and creating a grant program to help nonprofits create anti-racist organizational cultures.

“Eliminating disparities and inequities is among our core values, and is a major focus across all of our work in the community. We use a racial equity lens while making decisions about allocating resources to improve health, educational success and economic security among other critical issues,” said Neil D. Steinberg, president and CEO of the Foundation.


The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Working with generous and visionary donors, the Foundation raised $68 million and awarded a record $87 million in grants in 2020. Since its centennial five years ago, the Foundation has awarded more than $284 million in grants and has raised more than $328 million. Through leadership, fundraising and grant-making activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential.

RI Gives Vax Challenge distributes final $380K in grants to 38 nonprofits

August 18, 2021 1:35 pm
Read this article on at Providence Business News

VaccinationPROVIDENCE – The state has distributed the two final rounds of the RI Gives Vax Challenge grant program, the governor’s office announced Wednesday, awarding another 38 nonprofits a combined $380,000 in grants.

The grant rounds were triggered by the state surpassing both 20,000 and 25,000 new vaccinations since the incentive program began in July. Each recipient of a grant from the program received $10,000.

“Right now we know that every shot counts, especially when it comes to protecting ourselves against the delta variant and getting students safely back in the classroom,” said Gov. Daniel J. McKee in a statement. “Thank you to all Rhode Islanders who have stepped up to get vaccinated and supported our local nonprofits through the RI Gives Vax Challenge. This is a powerful example of the community coming together [to] keep each other healthy. If you have not gotten vaccinated yet, it is time.”

Now concluded, the RI Gives Vax Challenge program, which was a collaboration between the governor’s office, the Rhode Island Foundation, the R.I. Department of Health and R.I. Commerce Corp., has distributed a total of $750,000 to 75 nonprofits in the state.

“This is just one more example of the remarkable way Rhode Islanders have pitched in over the past 17 months. The funding will enable nonprofits to continue to provide food, housing and health care to people who still are struggling with the impact of the pandemic,” stated Neil D. Steinberg, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Foundation.

Round 4 recipients of the program include:

  • Amenity Aid
  • Capital City Community Centers
  • Central Falls Family Self Sufficiency Foundation
  • Clothes to Kids RI Inc.
  • Esperanza/Hope
  • Foster Forward
  • Hope’s Harvest RI
  • Interfaith Counseling Center
  • Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale
  • Lucy’s Hearth
  • McAuley Ministries
  • New Beginnings
  • Operation Stand Down Rhode Island
  • Progreso Latino
  • Providence Rescue Mission
  • Rhode Island for Community & Justice
  • We Share Hope

Round 5 recipients include:

  • Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Newport County
  • Boys & Girls Club of Pawtucket
  • Bridgemark Inc.
  • CartwheelRI
  • Centro de Innovacion Mujer Latina
  • Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic
  • Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center
  • Good Neighbors
  • Housing Hotline
  • Inspiring Minds
  • Mentor Rhode Island
  • Open Doors
  • New Urban Arts
  • Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust
  • Rhode Island Center Assisting Those in Need
  • Silver Lake Community Center
  • St. Martin de Porres Senior Center
  • West End Community Center
  • West Warwick Senior Center

Collaboration for Conservation and Native Land Stewardship

USDA – NRCS – Conservation Collaboration

PPLT is collaborating with Global Village Farms, World Farmers, and  Somali Bantu Community Association to outreach to historically underserved farmers to increase conservation land stewardship practices. We aim to support Indigenous, Black and other farmers of color in accessing resources such as NRCS programs that improve the environmental quality of soil, water, air, plants and animals. Contact us for more information about getting technical assistance to make management plans or funding for improvements such as high tunnels.