200 Main St. Pawtucket, RI 02860 401.725.4400
Executive Director: Jan Brodie
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Organized in 2001, The Pawtucket Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity with Business and nonprofit leaders making up the membership. The organization is funded entirely from member contributions, private grants and fundraising events. The Pawtucket Foundation relies on the generosity, resources and leadership of the local business community.
The Pawtucket Foundation represents the business and not-for-profit sector as an advocate and catalyst for downtown, riverfront and transportation gateway enhancements within the City of Pawtucket. As civic entrepreneurs, we foster a vision of the community’s future by mobilizing and coordinating research, information, talent and resources to positively impact the City. We envision an attractive, sustainable and livable place with the Blackstone River as the centerpiece of a vibrant, distinctive community. Modernized infrastructure and a 21st-century multi-modal transportation network serve a thriving business community, a diverse resident population and active visitor market.
The Pawtucket Foundation is a leader, advocate and catalyst for redevelopment efforts with enhanced focus on economic development, placemaking and building connections. On-going projects include construction of a Pawtucket/Central Falls commuter rail stop, completing portions of the riverfront bike path, improving downtown traffic patterns and accessibility and redeveloping the downtown and riverfront corridor, remain priorities. We assist in positioning properties for redevelopment and building public private partnerships to better formalize business, development and marketing resources within the defined Pawtucket Downtown Growth Center (PDGC) and boarding areas of Central Falls creating opportunities for multi-community partnerships.
Environmental Projects
Environmental cleanup and beautification projects have played a key role in the Foundation’s community development efforts. In addition to the current projects below, the Foundation was recently instrumental in making a number of streetscape improvements to Main Street and the Armory Arts District. The Pawtucket Foundation introduced two programs in 2016 to activate public spaces in downtown with yoga classes, grow boxes and green art. The Foundation also developed a proposal for a “clean and safe” improvement district, sustainable through federal programs that help put people to work.
Current environmental projects include:
- The Riverfront Corridor Initiative: Targets the Division Street riverfront parcels along the east bank with residential and commercial uses, and the Tidewater site along the west bank which is being readied for development with environmental assessments and remediation through RIDEM brownfields grants. For the second phase, The Riverfront Corridor Development Plan outlines specific actions that will help to achieve high-end projections identified in the market analysis. Priorities include: addressing urban design challenges, due diligence, environmental stewardship and identifying public-private implementation steps that could include creation of a development district, a package of incentives, expedited permitting and infrastructure improvements.
- Pawtucket Proud Day:The Foundation organizes, supplies and directs an annual city clean up day. Companies based in Pawtucket donate their staff time to a day of public space landscape and maintenance. It has become a tradition and promotes both civic engagement as well as city beautification.