The Rhode Island Foundation is one of the oldest community foundations in the United States. Created in 1916, the foundation provides grants to support local nonprofit organizations that work in a variety of areas, including education, housing, and health care.
In June of 2023, David Cicilline resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation. He sat down with Ocean State Media political reporter Ian Donnis to discuss his accomplishments over the past three years.
Interview highlights
On the Rhode Island Foundation’s priority areas
David Cicilline: The Rhode Island Foundation is the second-oldest community foundation in America. We have been around for 110 years and we have – because of the generosity of so many Rhode Islanders – an endowment that allows us to do significant grant-making and to be the largest funder of nonprofits in the state of Rhode Island. Last year, we gave grants out of about $93 million, the highest grant-making we’ve ever done. We’re also particularly involved in some important issues of housing and education where we really engage in some advocacy.
We’re doing a significant amount of work in the housing area. We created a paid-for a study to really understand the challenges in the housing market. We then took that information and began to make investments to produce more housing. We’re about to launch a housing accelerator fund to really accelerate that work. We led the campaign for the passage of the state bond that produced $120 million more to produce affordable housing. So we’ve had a real impact.
In the area of education, we’ve made a lot of investments in education, in improving teacher quality, principal leadership, after-school programs. But most recently, we led an effort to revise and improve the school funding system for the state of Rhode Island.
On the Foundation’s recommendations to change how Rhode Island funds education
Cicilline: I think there are people who have real expertise, and there’s a lot of different opinions about this. But in my view, funding is foundational. If you don’t have the resources to do the work, and it’s not allocated in a way that’s fair and adequate so that every student in Rhode Island has access to a high-quality public education, the rest of it becomes impossible. So the Rhode Island Foundation played a really important role 15 years ago when Rhode Island, I think, was the last state to have a school funding formula. But that was 15 years ago, and I think everyone recognizes the current formula is broken and in real need of improvement in a comprehensive way.
I will say, of all the many things I’ve been involved in in my public life, co-chairing the Blue Ribbon Commission with all of these stakeholders that are impacted by the school funding system at the table – sometimes people that didn’t often agree with each other – to reach, after a full year, consensus on those recommendations that then were presented to the General Assembly, was really one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever been involved in. We have to get this right. It’s not just important for our students, it’s important for our economic future; for the health of Rhode Island; for our economic wellbeing. So this is an urgent priority, and it’s something that’s going to remain a priority of the foundation.
On the Foundation’s effort to improve Rhode Island’s civic health
Cicilline: When we created our five-year action plan, one of the community priorities is civic and cultural life. Civic and cultural life were put together because we support lots of arts organizations because art and music and theater are really important parts of a community, and they add to our lives in so many ways. But they are also great civic opportunities. You go to a concert in Roger Williams Park, and you may sit next to someone who has a completely different political view, someone you don’t know at all, and you have a shared artistic experience that allows you to recognize your common humanity. So we put those two things together.
We identified civic health as a real priority, and that is investing in organizations that are helping to bring people together to reconnect people with their neighbors. What we will have done over the summer, these Together RI gatherings, inviting Rhode Islanders just to come to have a meal and talk about what they think the Rhode Island Foundation should continue to focus on in our five-year action plan. I hope it’s the beginning of a kind of a change.
Note: The Rhode Island Foundation is a financial supporter of Ocean State Media. Editorial decisions are made independently of financial support.
