For this week's Wednesday Words post, the RICJ staff and youth created a video and statement addressed to everyone who has supported our work in the last month and a half.
In recent weeks, we have received a wave of donations from individuals and organizations seeking to make Rhode Island a more just, inclusive and equitable place. From the staff, youth and Board of RICJ — thank you. We are humbled and energized by your generosity. These dollars will allow us to continue the vital work of fighting bias, bigotry and racism, and promoting understanding among all people in our state.
Your support will allow us to sustain our life-changing youth programs, as we work to train and empower the next generation of Rhode Island social justice leaders. Your donations ensure that the young people in the video message above (and many others) will have a place to laugh, grow, develop facilitation skills and reflect safely upon difficult truths in the world that aren't taught in school.
Your contributions to RICJ will also fund our ongoing work to implement a robust model of restorative justice for juveniles who are arrested in Rhode Island. We are committed to supporting, coordinating and securing more funding for the state's network of Juvenile Hearing Boards. These community-based groups connect vulnerable young people to essential services and divert them away from the courts. Your dollars will help us help them. We hope you will learn more about this program, and join us in advocating for it as a central part of creating a more effective, equitable and compassionate criminal justice system in the state.
Your gifts will also allow us to hold impactful community events (virtually, this year) like the annual Metcalf Awards for Diversity in the Media, which elevates works of journalism and storytelling that give voice to marginalized and underrepresented populations in the Rhode Island region. Making our media industry more diverse and inclusive—for both the people who work in it and those who are covered by it—is key to creating lasting change.
Just as we thank you for your generous donations in this moment, we invite you to stay connected with us in the months and years ahead. As long as there is social division and racism and inequity in Rhode Island, we will be working to end them, and we will need your ideas and your support. So please stay in touch, and please consider giving to us on a regular basis.
The issues we face as a society can be healed, resolved and reimagined. But only if we put our time and resources toward them, again and again, and don't stop. We must do this, we will do this, until an equitable world has been realized.
Thank you to the following individuals and organizations for your recent support:
Erica Busillo Adams
Rep. Edie Ajello
Align in Time
Luc Allio
Amica Companies Foundation
Anonymous
Keith Arsenault
Thomas Atkins III
Jim and Victoria Barnes
Beacon Insurance
Michael Bennett
Estelle Bernardi
Nicolette Bernardi
Mark Beveridge
David Blair
Henry Bohan
Jeffrey Bondorew
Caroline Breen
Aaron Broadbent
Jonathan Burke
Kelly Byerlee
Benjamin Cai
Nora Moreno Cargie
Mikaela Carrillo
Renee Chicoine
Kristen Connulty
Kelly Coutcher
Katherine Dantis
Delta Dental of RI
Bob and Rena DiMuccio Ann Donovan
The Drescher Family & Allie's Donuts
Madeline Federle
Fidelity Foundation Fidelity Giving Marketplace
Carlos Fragoso
Lisa Fuller
John Furlich
Catherine Garrett
Christine Gibau
Jordan Goffin
Dr. Alma Gottlieb Kendal Growe
Cynthia Hiatt Michael Hunsicker
Tom Iaconetti
International Berkeley Society
Thomas Jacobson
Javier Juarez
Kelsey Kirkpatrick
Lisa Lachance
Jean Myungjin Lee Lynne Linden
Benjamin Lipson
Matthew Lambton
Vin Marzullo
Sai Mgapu
Elieen McKinney
Kristen Meizoso
Kaitlyn Mitchell
Nicole Moreau
Roxanne Nelson
Kimberly Neves
Kate Orchard
Robin Osborne
Kurt Ostrow
Etta Parsons
Jonathan Pierce
Michael Pollock
Daniel Powers
City of Providence
Providence Shelter for Colored Children
Roberta Richman
Karla Rosenstein
Courtney Schmidt
Kelly Shea
Joanne Snodgrass
Lindsey Stonehart
Fran and Greg Thuotte
Tufts Health Plan Foundation
Desiree Van Nostrand
Washington Trust Company
Melanie Weiss
Joseph Wilkicki III
Katherine Winslow
Women's Fund of Rhode Island
Carol Young