After Dr. Beata Nelken opened Jenks Parks Pediatrics in Central Falls in 2020, she noticed that many of the medical issues her patients faced could be raced to housing.
The pediatrician took the unusual step of investing in 30 units of new, rent-stabilized housing tailored for women and children who are at risk of homelessness.
In “Generation Rising,” host Anaridis Rodriguez speaks with Nelken and Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera. The full interview can be found here.
Dr. Beata Nelken and Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera joined forces to not only provide vaccines, but also to register more than 1,000 uninsured children for health insurance coverage. The pair also were instrumental in opening
Jenks Park Residence, located across the street from Central Falls City Hall. The 30-unit affordable living space, funded by a $1 million site acquisition investment from RIHousing, will specifically support mothers and children who face homelessness.
Nelken says that after the soft opening in April 2024, the project is “full steam ahead.”
“Everything’s in check. We have our people lined up, our managers, our staff. Our kitchen got cleared, fire-coded, accepted, everything,” she says. “The Department of Health has been through, I mean, it’s a million little parts that come together, but it’s a beautiful picture, and we’re all so motivated by the mission and can’t wait to get those women in.”
Women residents, children receive support
Rivera says she envisions the housing will allow the residents to become “self-sustainable.”
“And in two years, for (those women) to be able to walk out of this residence and say, ‘I’m able to hold down a job. I’m able to pay for an apartment. I’m able to take care of my kids. Like, I’m able to do what I have to do for myself,” Rivera says. “You know, as two women, I think it’s really important for us to work with so many women and empower them and really make them understand that they’re able to accomplish whatever they can. They just need a little support, and this is what we’re doing with this.”
Nelken adds that the residence is not just about housing. The apartments are fully furnished and the women and children receive a hot meal every day.
“They have all the support services of behavioral health clinicians and community health workers that will work with them and plan out their lives through a generous grant through Papitto Opportunity Connection,” Nelken says. “We’ve been honored to provide each woman with $10,000 in grants for doing workforce development, helping with childcare, transportation, whatever the needs are.
“So the community health workers meet with these women and plan out their dreams and help them with the logistics, getting into those classes, making sure they study every night. They get laptops. They get all the Wi-Fi and utilities included, everything, and all the support services so that they have a community where they can kind of focus and grow.
Nelken calls the residence “a bit of an incubator” to shelter them from some of life’s harsher situations.
“We wanna keep them on those tracks and give them all those supports included in the facility,” she says. “It’s really amazing.”
A hero of the Central Falls community
Rivera calls Nelken a “hero of the community” for her work. The COVID-19 pandemic began before Rivera took office, but once sworn in she worked to ensure that people were being vaccinated.
“Dr. Nelken became my best friend with this work, making sure that she could take anyone and everyone in the community,” she says. “We really saw the need right through the pandemic of what was happening in the community.
“We were the hardest hit community, obviously, because of the housing crisis, because we have a lot of families living in one apartment. When we were asking residents to isolate, they couldn’t isolate. When you have 10 people living in one apartment, how could they isolate? So we knew we had a crisis.”
Nelken said that working through the pandemic with Rivera made both of them “kind of like war heroes” for issues concerning Central Falls.
“Anything I need, I can always call her, and any concept I have or ideas, she’s got my back, and we know we have the same heart and the same mission for Central Falls,” Nelken says., “So the relationship was always there, and then Papitto was also involved with Jenks Park Pediatrics, and Central Falls Children’s Foundation are a nonprofit for two years prior to this.
“So having all that base foundation of that work relationship together and that understanding of how each works and having trust and confidence and just that factor of reliability, it’s, like, OK, we know these teams can work together and we know we can work effectively, and when we say we’re gonna do something, it’s gonna happen.”
“I think we’re a powerhouse, right? And people have seen that we can get things done,” Rivera says. “It’s not that hard, right? When you wanna get something done, because there’s a need in the community, people believe in you, and I think this is how we’ve been able to accomplish this, right?”
Disclaimer: The Papitto Opportunity Connection is a proud funder of “Generation Rising.”
Generation Rising airs on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
