Support our work
The Communities of Hope organization at Roger Williams University relies entirely on grant funding and community donations. Your support will strengthen our current programs: HOPE SQUAD, HOPE LAB, HOPE POD, EcoTalk, and Transforming Roger, which impact local Rhode Island communities and beyond. Please help us strengthen our efforts to create equitable opportunities and just outcomes for students, youth, families, educators, community journalists, partners, and community members. We thank you for your support!
To send a check by mail:
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Make your check payable to “Roger Williams University” and write "Communities of Hope" in the memo.
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Mail your check to Attn: Angela Pizzolato; 1 Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI 02809.
Accomplishments
Since launching in May 2022, CoH has:
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Provided paid internships and work study opportunities for dozens of RWU students who wouldn’t be able to afford unpaid internships, and unpaid internships for credit.
Developed the largest continuous community engagement program at RWU in number of students, disciplines, and partners.
Developed from scratch or modified six courses making our Transformative Journalism Approach central to the RWU Journalism program.
Launched Transforming Roger, a transformative journalism program looking into how RWU relates as an institutional partner to its publics (employees, students, local communities, etc.).
Produced an investigative podcast into the history of reurbanization and racism in Providence, RI, called Hope Pod: Path to Reparations.
Produced four episodes of EcoTalk with our partners ecoRI News.Organized a collaboration with ecoRI News and RI Latino News to participate in the Center for Cooperative Media’s #DemocracyDay developing new community engagement practices with support from the American Press Institute.
Helped organize the first SPJ Summer High School Institute in the country with SPJ Region 1 (Northeast) at Roger Williams University. Applications for the 2023 institute are now open.
Developed the year-long Hope Squad program for high school journalists, in which they meet once a month online to learn advanced and transformative reporting techniques from a few of the best journalists and journalism educators in the U.S.
Developed the year-long Hope Lab program for educators and professional journalists running or starting journalism programs for youth, in which they meet once a month online to learn how to teach advanced and transformative reporting techniques from a few of the best journalists and journalism educators in the U.S.
Developed a high school internship with the Met High School to document the life, culture, and people of South Providence neighborhoods.
What we are planning for the spring 2023 in addition to continuing working with the Met High School internship program, Hope Squad and Hope Lab:Three new episodes of EcoTalk with an online audiovisual companion.Mini-documentary about solutions to improve the system to welcome and sustain refugees in Rhode Island.