Mayor Announces New Employment Incentive to Help Providence Residents Obtain Good Paying Public Safety Jobs
Proposed ordinance designed to enhance public safety by ensuring Police & Fire Departments reflect the communities they serve

 

 

Mayor David N. Cicilline, Police Chief Dean M. Esserman and Fire Chief George S. Farrell today announced an initiative designed to encourage more Providence residents to seek employment on the City’s Police and Fire Departments.  The proposed ordinance would assign 10 additional points to Police and Fire recruits who have passed all entrance exams and met the required standards for joining the respective departments.

 

“We’ve worked hard to ensure that our Police and Fire Departments are among the best departments in the northeast with the highest professional standards,” said Mayor Cicilline.  “This proposed ordinance will give us additional tools to enhance public safety by ensuring that police and firefighters are well familiar with the neighborhoods they have pledged to protect.  These are the people whose tax dollars fund city services, so it only seems fair that Providence residents would receive preference when it comes to obtaining good-paying City jobs.”

The ordinance would give 10 additional points to the test scores of Providence residents who have passed the required written examinations and evaluations set forth by the Police and Fire Departments.  The candidate would be required to submit proof of residency in the form of specific documents outlined in the ordinance.

“I grew up in Providence and I strongly believe that I am a better firefighter because of my connection to the community in which I live,” said Chief Farrell, a third generation firefighter whose father and grandfather served on the Providence Fire Department and lived in the City of Providence.  “This ordinance will not only help to enhance public safety, but will result in more firefighters becoming engaged in our community, which will benefit everyone.”

The Mayor and Chief Esserman believe the proposed ordinance will also help strengthen the Police Department’s community policing program, which has become a national model in law enforcement.

“We are looking for men and women of commitment, courage, integrity, and a belief in service to the community,” said Colonel Esserman. “The Providence Police maintain a strong community policing program, focusing on police and the community coming together to prevent crime before it happens.”

“Over the past five years, we have worked aggressively with our community partners to increase the number of minorities on the police and fire departments,” said Mayor Cicilline.  “This ordinance will help us to redouble those efforts.”
 
Representatives from the NAACP, Urban League of Rhode Island, Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy (CHISPA) and other neighborhood and community organizations were also on hand for the news conference.  Mayor Cicilline has forwarded the proposal to the City Council for introduction and consideration.

 

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Providence's Classical High School in Providence Named Silver Medal High School in National Survey

Providence Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Brady and Classical Principal Scott Barr have announced that for the second consecutive year, Classical High School in Providence has been rated a Silver Medal School in the U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best High Schools” rankings. The designation means that among 21,069 high schools analyzed, Classical placed within the top three percent of schools in a series of measures that sought to determine student preparedness upon graduation.

 

“We are excited to announce this accomplishment by Classical High School,” said Brady. “I applaud and thank the teachers, the administration, and especially the students who have worked so hard to build and maintain Classical’s outstanding reputation and performance.”

 

According to the magazine’s report, the measurements were designed by education data research service School Evaluation Services, a subsidiary of Standard & Poor’s, and were intended to capture data on performance of not only the student body as a whole, but also on how well the school serves every individual student, regardless of socio-economic factors or post-graduation aspirations. The magazine describes their research as “based on the key principles that a great high school must serve all its students well, not just those who are bound for college and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show that the school is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.”

 

Rankings were based on a three-step process: first, reading and math testing scores were compared in a weighted analysis against other schools within the state; secondly, schools that performed well in the first measure were re-examined to determine how statistically disadvantaged populations, such as black, Hispanic and low-income students, performed on the same tests. Lastly, if those disadvantaged populations were above the statistical expectations, college-readiness performance was measured against other schools across the nation using Advanced Placement participation and test score data. (AP is a College Board program that offers college-level courses at high schools across the country.) 
  

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Residents Urged to Take Precautions During Severe Cold Weather

Mayor David N. Cicilline and Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) Director Peter T. Gaynor today encouraged residents to take steps to protect themselves from the extreme cold weather in the coming days.  According to the National Weather Service, temperatures are expected to dip into the single digits, with the wind chill factors pushing temperatures below zero.  Crews from the Department of Public Works will begin pre-treating the roads with salt at 5am on Thursday in advance of the morning commute.

 

Mayor Cicilline has directed PEMA to prepare to open a temporary “warming center” at the Neutaconkanut Community Center if necessary.  Residents in need of assistance should contact the United Way’s 2-1-1 telephone call center to request assistance.  In the event of an emergency, always dial 9-1-1.

 

Exposure to extreme cold weather can cause hypothermia and frostbite.  If you suspect a person is suffering from frostbite or hypothermia, bring him or her someplace warm and seek medical help immediately.  Symptoms include:
- Hypothermia: includes slurred speech, sluggishness, confusion, dizziness, shallow breathing, unusual behavior, and slow, irregular heartbeat.
- Frostbite: includes gray, white or yellow skin discoloration, numbness, and waxy feeling skin.

 

Cold Weather Tips:
- Dress in layers, as they provide better insulation and warmth
- Wear a hat or hood to keep heat from escaping the body
- Keep you pets inside
- Check on your elderly neighbors

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United Way Launches Fund to Prevent Homelessness in Rhode Island

100% of proceeds will help people in danger of losing their homes

Rhode Island’s economic downturn has already displaced many Rhode Islanders from their homes. As the recession deepens in the coming months, projections show many more will become homeless.

United Way of Rhode Island (UWRI) is responding to this urgent call for need today by announcing a community-wide education and fundraising initiative called the United Way Fund to Prevent Homelessness in Rhode Island. One hundred percent of the contributions made to the Fund will be distributed directly to people who need assistance to meet rent, mortgage and utilities.

UWRI’s CEO and President, Anthony Maione, announced that UWRI will match contributions to the Fund dollar for dollar up to $100,000 between now and March 31. “In effect, United Way will double the donor’s gift,” said UWRI President and CEO, Anthony Maione. “It demonstrates just how grave we perceive this need to be.

“We can’t stand by while we watch hard working Rhode Islanders become homeless because they can’t pay basic household expenses,” said Maione. “We are hopeful that all of Rhode Island will come together to help our neighbors in need by contributing to the Fund.”

The goal is to keep people stable and out of the already over-burdened shelter system as well as help those hardest hit by the economic downturn and in need of assistance.

 

“During these difficult economic times, we have to work harder then ever to provide opportunities for struggling families, especially those in danger of losing their homes,” said Mayor David N. Cicilline.  “I applaud the United Way for establishing the Fund to Prevent Homelessness, and I encourage everyone to support this critically important initiative for Rhode Island families.”

 

United Way via its United Way’s Housing and Homelessness Committee will join forces with other organizations that advocate for and serve the homeless to build awareness regarding how current economic conditions are placing people in danger of losing their homes and becoming homeless.

 

“Certainly, this focus on prevention is critical, given the economic hardships that people are encountering,” said Noreen Shawcross, Chief of the State Office of Housing and Community Development.

 

Monies contributed to the Fund will be distributed to people in need through the following agencies: Amos House, Bradford Jonnycake Center, East Bay Community Action Program, Family Resources Community Action, Salvation Army, Pawtucket Corps, Salvation Army, Providence Corps, WARM Shelter, Westbay Community Action Program, Wood River Health Services, Comprehensive Community Action Program, Crossroads R.I., Providence Neighborhood Agency Association members, Tri-Town Community Action Agency and South County Community Action.

 

“Every man, woman and child across America deserves a safe and affordable home,” said Eileen Hayes, President and CEO of Amos House, a R.I. agency that offers social services to the homeless. “Housing insecurity puts undue stress on families; hurts a child’s ability to perform well in school and ultimately erodes communities. United Way of Rhode Island’s campaign to prevent homelessness creates an opportunity for all of us to help our neighbors.”
 
At the press conference, Georgeinna “Georgia” Moten, of Providence, recalled how she received an eviction notice, and was at risk of becoming homeless. A grant from United Way gave her enough funds so she was able to move to a safe home.

 

Similarly, Madeline Silva, a family advocate and housing support specialist for Woonsocket-based Family Resources Community Action’s Family Support Center, spoke about a local mother who used grant money from United Way to prevent her from falling into homelessness. She was forced to quit her job to care for her son who was born with a serious form of asthma. The financial assistance allowed her to pay for an apartment and buy diapers, food and other necessities.

 

“This is an issue that is not going away any time soon,” Maione added. “We need to keep drawing attention to what is occurring currently in our community in hopes of affecting change.”

 

How to Give  
Anybody can help support the United Way Fund to Prevent Homelessness in Rhode Island. Credit card contributions may be made by dialing 2-1-1 or online at www.LIVEUNITEDri.org or by mailing a check payable to the United Way Fund to Prevent Homelessness, 50 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02909.

 

How to Get Help

Anyone in need of assistance can dial 2-1-1 or visit www.211ri.org, United Way’s confidential, around-the-clock health and human services hotline staffed by information-referral professionals. In 2008, United Way 2-1-1 in Rhode Island received nearly 100,000 calls. 2-1-1, backed by a yearly commitment of $500 thousand from United Way, is also supported by a grant from the Hasbro Children’s Fund as well as additional funds from the state.     

About United Way of Rhode Island

United Way of Rhode Island has been working to improve the quality of life in Rhode Island communities for over 80 years. UWRI’s mission is to mobilize the caring power of the community to improve the lives of people in need and address the issues Rhode Islanders care most about. United Way’s goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place. We believe that all Rhode Islanders deserve the opportunity to have a better life, as when any one of us succeeds, we all succeed. At United Way, we refer to this as advancing the common good. For more information, visit www.LIVEUNITEDri.org.

 

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Mayor Cicilline to Host 2009 MLK Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

MLK Hall of Fame recipients M. Charles Bakst, Michael S. Van Leesten & Chace Baptista to be honored in special ceremony Thursday, January 22 at 7pm


Mayor David N. Cicilline will induct three prominent members of the Providence community into the 2009 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall of Fame on Thursday, January 22 at 7 pm in the Rotunda of the Rhode Island Convention Center. 

Former Providence Journal Columnist M. Charles Bakst, Providence Black Repertory Company Chairman Michael S. Van Leesten and Young Voices Co-Founder Chace Baptista have been selected as the 2009 MLK Hall of Fame inductees.  They’re being honored for their demonstrated efforts to carry on the legacy of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by making substantial contributions to acceptance, social justice, civil rights and equality.  Mayor Cicilline selected the honorees from a list of nominees submitted to the Mayor by the MLK Hall of Fame selection committee.  

The recipients will each receive an engraved crystal bowl and their names will be permanently inscribed in a plaque in Providence City Hall.

 

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Feature: My Business

The Business of Industrial Design 

 

There's been a lot of talk about the knowledge economy lately, especially with an exciting pool of new talent and innovation thriving in the capital city. However, for some local companies, innovation in research and design has been their priority for quite some time now.

Twenty years ago, two RISD industrial design graduates took on the product design market and built Item, a leading product innovator that now operates from an 80,000 square foot facility in Providence.  Led by co-founder and CEO Stephen Lane, and his business partner and Chief Innovation Officer Aidan Petrie, Item has matured from the humble beginnings of two-man start-up design shop to owning over a hundred patents and launching even hundreds more products for Fortune 500 companies all over the globe.  Recently the Item Group also gave birth to a new company called Ximedica, which specializes in the creation, development, and supply of medical devices. 

City News visited the Item facility at Dupont Drive and caught up with Lane to get some historical perspective on the latest new ideas.

 

When you started Item twenty years ago, what did you first set out to do?

I graduated with my business partner, Aidan Petrie, and we really effectively continued what we began at RISD.  As industrial design students at RISD we were very interested in identifying new products beyond just design, or style.  We were interested in identifying new products for different markets.  So we just started and we reached out to companies in the United States who were interested in two young people out of school that really didn't know a lot about their industry.  That was really our pitch at the beginning.

 

Enough companies in relatively low-tech industries gave us a shot at doing that.  In fact one of our first customers in 1985, the very first client we called, was Uvex Safety.  Uvex, which was in Smithfield, had just moved to RI from Germany.  They moved here because there was a jewelry-piece work and a labor pool from which they could assemble eyewear here in RI.  We called them and just asked if there was an opportunity to design in the eyewear category.  They blossomed over the years.  We worked with them over the years.  And they continue to be a customer to this day.  It's a good example of a local company giving a small start-up a shot and then allowing us to prove ourselves. 

 

Really we just built on each experience after that.  We didn't begin with some master plan.  We really began just much more entrepreneurially and more opportunistically to see where we could be effective.  We had different strengths that we brought to the world of product design and innovation.  And we used and leveraged those differences.

 

How has your business grown over the years?

Now we have well over a hundred employees.  We effectively do the same thing we did in 1985 but we do it in a much more sophisticated way, with much more sophisticated support staff, in a very sophisticated market - medical devices.  The DNA is no different today than it was in '85 but the people, the systems, and the sophistications of where we play is very different.  And that's what has kept us still very interested in what we do and not bored in the business. 

 

In contrast to that, our roles are really the same.  There's many more people and it's a much more mature organization with a much bigger master plan today.  So really for the first time we've got a much clearer roadmap to begin to scale the business than we did 20 years. 

 

Was your business always based in Providence?

In 1987 we moved the business to Boston for two years because that was the center of most of our customers.  After two years we determined that we could eat better, live better, and drive better in Providence.  And our location was really not critical because we were developing customers all over the country and the world.  We made the choice to come back to Providence and build with a little less urban burden that Boston was bringing to the table, just in terms of cost, difficulty in getting around, and there was a more nimble talent pool in Providence at that time that made it easier for us to grow a little bit quicker. 

 

We've been in every neighborhood imaginable.  For a while we couldn't find the real estate that was practical for our growth.  So here we are today, on the border of Providence and Cranston, and it's the only place we can afford to continue to grow in the city at our scale.  That's not a negative thing, it's just the reality for our scale of business.  Hopefully now, and it was different twenty years ago, those start-ups like ours are the people being embraced because those are the people that help build community in a neighborhood. 

 

Tell us about the transition to Ximedica. 

As we approach 150 people on staff, it became very important just for stability to focus.  The profession of industrial design and product design is a more generalized practice. So one day you might be doing truck racks, and the next you're doing infant carriers, or bird feeders, or eyewear.  As the economy ebbs and flows, so do those categories of product.  When you're at a very large scale and you have a knowledge trust of very bright people, many of whom you've recruited from around the world, you need to create a more stable, projectable business for growth.  So we kept the largest industry that we had experience in.  We've been developing medical devices for 15 years but it's been a part of what we do. 

 

It's very interesting.  People love the higher purpose of being involved in the development of new, innovative devices and medical systems.  We absolutely are affecting the quality of life for many people.  That makes people feel good about what they do and it keeps people interested and engaged.  For a creative business and a knowledge-based business, it's vital that we keep people engaged.  So we made the strategic choice to focus exclusively on medical devices and health care products.  Health care products can be broadly defined as consumer products like blood pressure monitoring, diagnostics, or home therapeutics to the industry usage products like surgical devices or capital equipment that might go into an emergency room. 

 

We can call it luck, or sheer brilliance, but we will probably experience one of the highest growth years we've had because of the migration we've made to medical.  Even in this strange economy, funding and investment will continue to go to solve the complex medical and health care industry issues that are around us.  Whenever there's change, it's very good for business.  Companies reach out to us for help and we're able to solve their problems in a more creative way and in most cases, at a much loser cost, and definitely faster.  So as the pressure builds in the industry at large, we become a very good weapon in their tool kit to be able to deal with some of the pressures that exist, even in the health care economy.

 

Providence is home to one of the largest health care industries in the country and so it seems that your company, with its expertise in research, design, and innovation and now with a new focus on the medical field, is more or less at the forefront of the new knowledge economy.   In your opinion, what makes Providence ripe for this type of economy?

In terms of the innovation economy, or the knowledge economy - these terms that really mean leveraging brain trusts, and getting in front of industries through creative thinking -- we've been in that business forever.  But what's even better though is that Providence is at the epicenter of the health care economy nationally.  When you look at the leaders of that industry and you look at the concentration of that energy that will effectively solve the issues in health care, they're in New England. 

 

One of the beauties of Providence is that it is equidistant to the Boston epicenter, a Harvard-driven base for medical innovation, and the New Haven epicenter, a Yale-driven base.  Providence has got two neighbors, whose systems if you will, have already scaled.  They're much more complicated, bigger, richer and there's more action there.  But they're also slower and more expensive.  Brown is at this place where they're forming their worldview on medical research in a different way.  Lifespan is positioning itself to be a cornerstone player in the health care economy beyond just providing health care.  And there's an emerging support system of talent with companies like Ximedica, other consultative regulatory bodies, and device customers like Bard that can benefit in a community like Providence, which is in a formative state.  When you are at that place, you have huge design opportunities - not design products, but design of the economy, because nothing's too formed yet.  Everything's malleable.  What's great about it is that all of us - the hospitals, the universities, and companies like ours - are talking to each other respectfully at the same time. 

 

It can also be very powerful to be able to leverage for the first time our proximity.  We used to talk about our proximity to Boston, but today if you have to draw the center of the bull's eye, it would be Providence.  And it radiates out.  If we look beyond our borders, the opportunities are there.  And so if we can do this in a coordinated effort, we can come out of this with a dynamic and new economy that sets the stage for the coming decade and for the next generation of entrepreneurs in the community. 

 

A topic that is also very current is the greening of cities and states.  Tell us about the Item Group GreenCard.

An awful lot of people are passing very bold statements about the greening of industry, and many of these ideas are big, long-term, transformational, expensive, and complicated.  We live in a world of here and now.  We have to launch a product next week. We can't wait for plastics that are made out of cornhusks.  We have to make plastic parts next year.  We have an obligation to that. 

 

So our GreenCard is a tool that we've developed and refined here that informs and influences the design of that plastic product in the very earliest stages.   We go through this checklist.  The GreenCard is that little guy over your shoulder that asks, have you thought about where it's going to be assembled, where it's going to be made, alternative materials that may be available in the near term, the size of the package so that you can fit more in a container for easier shipping, is it something that can be assembled in the United States so you reduce the transportation of the product.  If you start with those questions as a designer in the beginning, and you bring customers into the process, then there's no mystery.  You're making choices all along the way and at the end, you will have a greener product.  It may not be that iconic green product, but it would be better than it would have otherwise been, because it had been informed by the GreenCard. 

 

Our competitors have stolen the idea of the GreenCard! We really don't care.  This is a tool that is a way for us to make a contribution that is tangible, near-term, and modern.  We're not going to sit here and change the world in some grand way. 

 

What's next for the company?

We have in front of us an incredibly powerful business model, with incredibly talented and diverse people, at a very coincidental and opportunistic time.  Our entire focus is on blossoming to the scale and value that the industry can take.  What's most important to us is the quality and impact that we can have at scale.  So we're certainly growth driven but we've spent many years nurturing the bud of the flower and now it's all about it blossoming.  Like we've never done with our model, we're not comparing ourselves to anybody.  We're completely defining our model and our relevance to the industry and we want to be part of the solution.  And that's all we're thinking about. 

 

For more information, visit www.ximedica.com.

 

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