| Recognized as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the Woodlawn neighborhood of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is dotted with mill buildings and sturdy residences that stand as a testimony to its history as a manufacturing center. As recently as 1970, the region's concentration of industrial jobs gave Pawtucket and Woodlawn a higher median household income than the State of Rhode Island. However, by 1990 Woodlawn became the poorest neighborhood in Pawtucket and its median income fell to only 65 percent of statewide median. Almost half of the neighborhood's families (44 percent) now earn less than 200 percent of the poverty level.
Woodlawn faces many challenges: a low standard of living, many abandoned and neglected properties, a high unemployment rate, lack of a workable infrastructure, and a growing number of non-English speaking immigrants who have unfulfilled social-service needs. However, the neighborhood also has a growing number of community-based organizations that are concerned about these problems and have the potential to work collaboratively for change.
The Woodlawn/University of Rhode Island (URI) Community Outreach Partnership Center is using its New Directions grant to help Woodlawn residents implement several community empowerment and revitalization projects. Economic development activities planned during the grant period aim to increase the number of well-paying jobs within the neighborhood and the city; expand the opportunities for residents to develop and operate small businesses; mitigate the feelings of disinvestment and neglect produced by vacant storefronts; and help the community capture any prosperity the rest of the city or State may experience.
Partners in the project include URI, the Roger William Law School, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program, Cape Verdean American Community Development, the Pawtucket Citizens Development Corporation, the Office of the Mayor, and the Pawtucket City departments of Planning and Redevelopment, Recreation, Public Works, and Public Schools.
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