City News: Ronnie Young, Greater Elmwood

From the City News Interview Series...

GENS Community Building Director Ronnie Young: “The only way we’re going to be able to build a livable, comfortable neighborhood is by getting out there and talking to your neighbors.”

26-Year Old Ronnie Young of the Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services (GENS) knows what it’s like to “Celebrate Providence” and his neighborhood, beyond their popular annual community festival. Ronnie, a Providence-born community builder, knows that underneath the festivities and camaraderie lays a strong foundation paved with an everyday, patient effort to rebuild his community one neighbor, and one home, at a time.


His work combined with the experience of GENS in rehabilitating streets and homes in the Elmwood neighborhood is finally taking shape on Parkis Avenue. An historic block once lined with stately Victorian mansions formerly owned by mill-owners in the 1800s deteriorated over time into a street ridden with drugs, prostitution, and a transient population that simply didn’t care about the neighborhood.

Today, and in the future, Ronnie and his neighbors are working hard to ensure that the neighborhood they’ve taken back will be a place where people from varying walks of life will be eager to live in and raise their families.

Tell us about the idea behind the community festival that GENS is producing through Celebrate Providence.

I’m astounded every day about how much talent we have on this street (Parkis Avenue). We have all kinds of artists and musicians. Getting out into the community and talking to the people has made me realized that we live in a very beautiful place. We just have so much in this community to offer, we just have to bring it out.

This is the second year that we’ve done this and when we did it last year we wanted it to be a performance art event, as well as an art event. We wanted the people and the residents of this community to be able to come and enjoy each other’s company and also bring a piece of the festival home. So we had workshops on top of the performances.

The community wouldn’t have to come up with any funds or any materials, they just come simply to participate in the event and take whatever they can. Like last year, we had mask-makers at the festival. The kids absolutely love things like this.

Are there others that partnered with you to get this done?

We partnered with West Elmwood Housing, the Elmwood Foundation, and with an art teacher from the MET School.

What do you want participants to get out of the festival?

I want them to come out from the community and speak to people in the neighborhood. Being the director of the community-building department (at GENS), I’ve been working with the community for the past two years, forming relationships with resident leaders, community leaders, and residents in general. You can’t have a strong community if the community doesn’t know each other or trust each other or don’t communicate with each other. It’s very important that people, especially the youth and children, come out and get to know one another.

So that was our main focus – to bring people outside, to have a really good time, network amongst each other and we understand that music and art opens up the opportunity for people to dialogue on their creative sides and talk about their interests.

And where is the festival taking place this year?

It’s going to be on the lawn of Knight Memorial Library on 225 Elmwood Avenue. It’s a prime location, right on the main street, so we’re hoping that that’s going to be a good way to draw people in from the community. We want people to just know that this is a community-oriented event. It’s open and free to the public and we want as many people to come as possible.

How does this festival relate to what you do on an everyday basis for the Greater Elmwood neighborhood?

My department is in charge of creating positive social change by putting the responsibility of creating a strong livable neighborhood into the hands of the residents, rather than leaving it up to GENS. In order to do that, we have to hold resident leadership development meetings, workshops on financial fitness, networking events, so this festival is just one of those small pieces. This festival is the ‘fun’ side of bringing the community out into the neighborhood and talking to each other.

We’re in a very diverse neighborhood. Language is sometimes a barrier that comes between people; culture sometimes is too. So being in this diverse neighborhood and Providence being so small, we’re all living on top of each other anyway so the only way we’re going to be able to build a livable, comfortable neighborhood is by getting out there and talking to your neighbors, and breaking down those barriers – whether it’s your culture, your educational status, your social status, religion, or language. So, by hosting this art event, and bringing different people together in one place, we’re all hoping that it help break down those barriers.

Why do you do this kind of work?

I do this work because I’m from this neighborhood. I was born and raised here. I’m from South Providence. I was fortunate enough to get a great education in this neighborhood. I was working for Roger Williams University and I loved it there but when this job opened up and it was in my neighborhood, working for my people, I had to apply for it. And I’m just committed now. I want to see my community prosper.

I want to see people in the community be happy and if there are problems within the community, I want the people in the community to know the correct path to take in order to correct those problems, and not to rely on community development organizations like GENS to correct them. I don’t think it should be that way. I think we should be facilitators and help guide the residents into the right direction and find the resources that they need but I don’t think that it’s our sole responsibility to create community and make things better. I think that’s the community’s responsibility.

So, I really feel that my work is geared towards making our communities stronger so that they can make the change for themselves.

What are some of the best facets of the GE neighborhood? What do you like most about it?

I like the fact that I have a diverse group of residents that have diverse views. So, when I get out there and talk to residents, I learn things every single day. It’s not always the obvious issues that affect people. It’s not always about the drug dealers sometimes it’s about just wanting to put flowers in their gardens! They just need the simplest things sometimes, or just having the outlet to express themselves.

I also like the fact that it’s small, it’s quaint, we all know each other, or it’s easy to get to know people. All of our politicians are very accessible. The Mayor is very accessible, the City Councilors, our State Reps and Senators – they’re all very accessible and willing to work with this community. So I really appreciate that and enjoy that and whenever we need them for anything they’re always quick to step to the plate and help me accomplish whatever I need to accomplish. It makes my job easier and enjoyable.

How has the neighborhood grown over the last five years?

We have invested a lot on this one street, Parkis Avenue. Anyone who’s a resident of Providence knows that five years ago, if you needed something illegal (drugs or prostitution), you’d come to this street to get it. We still have that kind of history looming over us but the residents who have been here throughout that, I talk to them on a daily basis, and one of the things – even though they lived in these old rundown houses that we’re slowly trying to rehab – they always say to me, ‘you know, I love it here because it has changed so much! I love the fact that you guys are actually doing something.’

We formed a tenant association when I started a couple of years ago and I encouraged all the tenants to be a part of it – whether they wanted to or not! We now have monthly meetings and bring the tenants together to talk about issues in the community.

We got the Lieutenant in the area to join our board – he provides his services or the patrolmen – to come to this street and talk directly with the tenants. I set up ride-alongs with the police department so tenants can see exactly what the police have to go through so they can be more responsive in helping the police accomplish their job.

When I first came here, I saw that the tenants were doing what they can to combat the problems and the police were doing what they could to combat the problems but they weren’t communicating with each other. It’s just a matter of creating those relationships so that when a patrolman is riding by s/he knows who lives here and s/he knows what to expect and that when a tenant calls the police about something, they know what to say.

Creating those relationships has changed this community a lot. The residents don’t feel intimidated about talking to the police anymore, they don’t feel intimidated about talking to the property manager. I just feel as though being patient with the tenants, listening, following up with them, all of these things I have made sure we stayed on top of so that the tenants trust us. Now that we have these relationships, we work really well together.

To learn more about Ronnie’s work and of the Greater Elmwood Neighborhood Services, or to get more information about this Saturday’s festival, call 401-455-0810 or visit www.greaterelmwood.org