Our Organization

PRP was launched in 2019 by leading businesses, academic institutions, civic groups and residents across Providence. Our mission is to: 

  • Inform the community about both threats and solutions
  • Lead conversations and planning, and
  • Build consensus and action around resilient, equitable, and environmentally sustainable long-term solutions for all our residents.

Founding members include Brown University, Cornish Associates, the Providence Foundation, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Rhode Island, and WaterFire Providence.

PRP has since been joined by the Episcopal Diocese, ProvPort, Rhode Island Sea Grant, the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and others.

Driven by the immediate threat posed by climate change, PRP has already begun to act.

Research

To build a critical foundation for this resilience work, PRP has fully funded a study by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center and RI Sea Grant to review, organize and synthesize decades of data and studies to analyze the impacts and risks of climate change.  

Community Engagement

PRP is organizing meetings with an ever-growing network of businesses, organizations, and academic institutions from across the world to learn best practices for resilience. PRP is also planning a series of workshops with Providence stakeholders to convert insights from our synthesis report into a resilience plan for all Rhode Islanders.

Meet The Team

Curt Spalding

Curt Spalding is a Professor of the Practice with the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. Previously, he served as the US EPA New England Administrator under President Obama, and was Save The Bay’s Executive Director for eighteen years. Throughout his award-winning leadership career, Curt emphasized building community resilience through the implementation of equitable solutions that sustain both the economy and environment.

Pam Rubinoff

Pam Rubinoff is a coastal resilience specialist at the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center/RI Sea Grant. For over 30 years, Pam has leveraged her expertise in engineering, natural hazards, coastal management, and collaborative stakeholder engagement to make vulnerable communities more resilient to climate threats worldwide. To achieve sound, science-based risk exposure and reduction solutions, Rubinoff facilitates capacity building for neighborhoods, municipalities, and businesses locally and internationally.

Jo Lee

Jo Lee is a communications expert in the Internet, NGO and sustainability sectors in India, Israel, South Africa and the US. She has led creative teams at Sapient, and directed marketing, business development and investor relations divisions for leading public Internet companies. She has also founded cutting edge Internet services for NGOs. She is working with PRP as part of her employment with Brown University Government and Community Relations.

Contact Us

Please contact us to stay informed about our activities, or for media requests.

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