Institute for Nonviolence opens new doors in South Providence

  
 
Sunday October 17 in the Providence Journal

By Philip Marcelo

PROVIDENCE — Ten years ago, the Rev. Raymond Malm and Sister Ann Keefe walked out of another memorial service for another slain teen in their South Providence parish of St. Michael the Archangel and vowed to make a change.

It was late June, and the city was in the midst of a violent summer in which more than five youths would be murdered. Among those was 15-year-old Jennifer Rivera, who was shot in front of her house the day before she was to testify in a murder trial.

“I remember feeling like, ‘What a waste of life.’ I was so mad at our young people,” says Father Malm, now at St. Joseph Church in Newport. “I’d tell them, ‘You’re going to get your revenge, and we’re going to be back here in two weeks for another funeral.’ ”

As Father Malm and Sister Keefe recall, they stood at the steps of St. Michael and took in a broad view of the neighborhood — the parking lots, the scrubby fields and the low-slung apartment complexes off Prairie Avenue.

Their eyes fell on the church’s convent, which had closed in the 1970s.

The brick building, just across the street, had for years been a state-run treatment center for substance abusers, known as the Talbot House. Now it was vacant and heavily vandalized.

“That’s when we knew,” says Father Malm. “We got to get that place back and turn it into an institute for nonviolence. Right here in the center of this neighborhood with all this violence. That’s where it started.”

This month, after about a $5.5-million renovation, the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence –– the organization Father Malm and Sister Keefe founded soon after that violent summer of 2000 –– finally reopened that old convent as its new home.

The three-story brick building will allow the organization to better realize its mission of teaching people to resolve their differences through the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lessons of nonviolence, says Teny O. Gross, the institute’s executive director.

For the first time, the institute will be able to dedicate space for youth-centered programs to develop skills needed to escape poverty and crime. It will also provide separate floors for the organization’s more sensitive work: gang mediation and victim counseling.

“This is a whole new chapter for us,” Gross says.

Quietly, over the past two weeks, the institute has opened its doors to the community to see the mostly finished product.

The families of murder victims visited one weekend and saw the memorial space reserved for them on the building’s third floor. This past week, the institute held a cookout for its South Providence neighbors. And on Monday, the organization will celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception.

In recent years, the institute’s more than 30 employees had been operating out of a 3,500-square-foot office in the Pearl Street Lofts, near Central and Classical high schools.

It has grown considerably from its start in 2001, when it counted just one full-time employee working from an office in the church rectory: Gross, a former Israeli army sergeant who spent a decade in Boston as a street worker in the 1990s.

Today, the institute is recognized for its work mediating disputes in some of the toughest cities in the state. Its street workers — some former gang members — have helped resolve turf wars from Woonsocket to Cranston.

The organization has the unique role of providing counseling and support to the families of murder victims and victims of violence generally. It also operates the second-largest summer jobs program for youths in the city.

Though it is sparsely furnished now, the entire first floor of the institute’s new home is planned to be a hub for local youths.

A computer lab, still lacking computers, has been carved out where youth programming director Heather Gaydos hopes to offer pre-GED classes and computer skills classes.

The convent’s former chapel has been equipped with sound-proofing on its soaring ceiling so that it can host music, theater and other community performances. A sunny lounge area opens up to an outdoor courtyard. A gym and a multipurpose room are just off the main entrance.

On the second floor, one wing is dedicated to teaching Reverend King’s principles of nonviolence. Ray Duggan says he and other nonviolence trainers now have space for workshops and a library to build their lesson plans.

On the other side of the second floor, the institute’s approximately 15 street workers have a separate entry to the building where they can discretely bring in gang members for counseling.

“A lot of times, we’d have to go to a coffee shop or a McDonald’s in Warwick, or Cranston, or Seekonk just to get kids out of their element,” says Ajay Benton, who heads the street workers. “Now, this is a neutral zone. This is a no-beef zone.”

The third floor is the quietest.

Here, in a room lined with framed pictures of some of the state’s most recent homicide victims, support groups will meet once a month; on other days, it will be a place for friends and families to grieve and remember. Other rooms are reserved for private counseling of victims.

“To bring victims and offenders into the same place is sometimes a delicate balance,” says Tara Moniz, who, as the institute’s victims’ advocate, spends much of her day out of the office. “That separation — to have that closed, quiet space — was essential and that just wasn’t the case before.”

The institute secured more than $3 million in state and federal historic and new market tax credits to complete the project, another $1.9 million in grants, and raised about $600,000 through donations.

It is one of numerous development projects pumping new investment into South Providence, a neighborhood of 27,000 mostly poor, minority residents. Those projects include the construction of new residences and retail and office space along Broad Street and the redevelopment of the former Federated Lithographers site by the Providence Community Health Center.

“This was done with a lot of love,” Gross says. “We wanted this place to be beautiful because it sends a message to the people we serve that you are worth this, and we don’t judge you by your past. You are an asset to society, and we are willing to invest in you.”

Comments

[Vanessa Centeno]

It's great to see this place opened and looking in top shape to help out the community. I actually live right next door to the building (just separated by a fence), and although I was kept up all summer long by the constant work at 6 a.m., monday through sunday, I am grateful this place is opened to stop all the on going violence on our streets. I am proud to say that I have been one of the lucky ones to have been able to avoid those kinds of conflicts and stay on the right path. Almost graduating college pretty soon, I'm sad this wasn't around for those I have lost in my lifetime. Keep up the good work.

[Lynne]

So thrilled you are addressing what non-violence means. Most programs talk about what violence is and fail to teach our children non-violent alternatives. I applaud your organization for its great effort. I would love to be a part of this venture.

[Alyssa]

Hi Vanessa,

Thanks for the shout out. Come check us out anytime! The Institute for Nonviolence is truly a place for the community to come together in peace and we're grateful for the support and warm welcome we've received from so many neighbors and community members.

Best wishes finishing college!

[Iliana M. Feliz]

Love the place but most of all the work and support you all do for the community and more... Best wishes

[J.R.]

I admire the work that your institution does. I know the work that you all do is very involved, especially for the street workers. To be able to meet with a family that just lost a loved one and be that shoulder they can lean on is excellent work. I applaud each of you.

I know all our youth need rescuing especially in this era but what I’ve noticed lately is that we are losing our young boys to the street, prisons and death due to violence. How can we save our young boys before they reach that point?

Also how can we empower our young girls to have confidence therefore they don’t have to search for love in all the wrong places? Looking forward to your feedback.

[Melissa]

Just came from a ride-along with the Street Workers. I am awed by what each of you do every day. Thank you for your passion and dedication.