RISD Center for Community Partnerships

Our mission

The Center for Community Partnerships (CCP) helps campus and external partners develop, execute and assess a variety of projects and initiatives, creating a framework at RISD for responsible engagement.

The work of the CCP seeks to make RISD’s assets, opportunities, skills and knowledge accessible to diverse communities while deepening the understanding of responsible civic and academic engagement among students, faculty, staff and alumni.

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RISD Votes

Find voter registration, eligibility and civic education resources from RISD Votes, a nonpartisan, institution-wide effort to get students out to vote in local, state and national elections.

The CCP and Center for Student Involvement work together to provide students with robust community service opportunities and programs that support them in becoming socially responsible and engaged artists and designers and that make a community-informed impact in Providence and across the region.

Alternative Spring Break (ASB)

ASB is an intensive six-day interaction focused on political activism and social impact. It offers participants and partners alike an enriching cultural and service experience.

Design for America

This student-run RISD/Brown group uses design to tackle local problems around education, healthcare, climate change and more.

Internships

Through experiential learning opportunities, students learn to apply knowledge, theory and skills acquired in the classroom in professional settings.

Leadership and Community Engagement (LACE) Fellowship

The LACE program connects students with local nonprofits, providing them with pathways for contributing the design thinking they develop at RISD to important social causes.

Museum Guild

The Museum Guild is a service learning program at the RISD Museum. It helps prepare selected undergrad and grad students to facilitate public tours, discussions and other programs related to museum collections.

Pre-Orientation Service Experience (POSE)

POSE is a three-day intensive for incoming first-year students. Through it students engage with the local community upon arrival to campus and discover longterm volunteer opportunities.

RISD Leads

This certificate program and workshop series connects students with community-oriented organizations throughout the region. In doing so it creates a framework for each student’s personal leadership journey and overall development.

SPUR Fund

Offered through RISD Research, this fund provides grants for students to do non-traditional, experimental, and locally and globally transformative work. SPUR Fund-supported projects also help advance RISD’s core values and strategic priorities.

In coordination with the Research Office and the Teaching and Learning Lab, the CCP supports faculty who want to develop studios with local organizations, conduct socially engaged research or practice, or receive training and support in developing community-engaged curricula.

Faculty training and curriculum development

The CCP and the Teaching and Learning Lab organize and deliver interactive workshops and opportunities that support faculty in building inclusive curricula and pedagogies.

Support for community-engaged research and projects

The CCP collaborates with the Research Office to support and advocate for faculty and students to pursue projects that generate new knowledge and innovations across various disciplines, fields and practices.

Next steps

The CCP connects organizations with potential partners across RISD, including faculty, students, career advisors, fundraising officers and the RISD Research office.

Each year RISD collaborates with numerous community groups and organizations on projects that span topic and scope. These include studios focused on public engagement and social responsibility as well as PVDFest, an annual arts and culture event in downtown Providence, the Design Catalyst grant program, and Designing for the Future of Mobility, a partnership between RISD and the Hyundai Motor Group aimed at improving how people move through—and live in—the world.

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high school students sit at a long table inside the Project Open Door studio

CCP areas of impact

In connecting RISD students, faculty, curators and leaders with people and organizations locally and worldwide, we help advance RISD’s mission to serve the greater good through art and design education and practice, and extend and amplify the impact of our strategic vision.

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Economic Impact Report

RISD enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with the city of Providence, which is also known as the Creative Capital. This is based on shared goals: to enrich local culture and bolster quality of life in Rhode Island’s urban center. Each year RISD publishes an economic impact report to highlight the variety of ways we contribute to the city.

a mural in downtown Providence of a young Indigenous woman surrounded by birds and flowers and holding an older picture of an Indigenous man

2019 Economic Impact Report

Learn how RISD directly supports the local economy, creates quality of place in Providence and engages with the community through various initiatives and programming.

Center leadership

Supported by the Community Engagement Advisory Committee and with input from across the institution, Executive Director Bethany Costello and Assistant Director Claudeline Chery lead the CCP. Together they develop near- and longterm strategies to increase awareness of RISD’s mission, goals and agendas. Additionally they work with internal and external stakeholders to steward new and existing community partnerships in support of RISD’s civic engagement efforts.

Christina Alderman, Assistant Director of Family and Teen Programs
Jennifer Bissonette, Interim Director, Nature Lab
Soul Brown, Director, Research
Sarah Caggiano, Executive Director of Continuing and Expanded Education
Claudeline Chery, Assistant Director, Community Development
Shana Cinquemani, Department Head of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design
Deborah Clemons, Assistant Director of Academic and Public Programs
Bethany Costello (chair), Director of Community Relations
Kelsey Elder, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
Karen Harris, Internship Manager, Career Center
Kate Irvin, Curator of Costume and Textiles, RISD Museum
Jade Johnson, Assistant Director, Diversity Programs
Tony Johnson, Assistant Dean of Student Social Equity and Inclusion
Alicia Luzon, Talent Acquisition Partner
Jennifer Recinos, Assistant Director, First-Generation Student Support
Suzanne Scanlan, Senior Lecturer in Theory and History of Art of Design
Jonenica Wood, Executive Director of Alumni and Family Relations
Wendy Zhuo, student

STUDENT ADVISORS

Malika Abbajadel
Raghav Rmadya Aggarwal
Ben Roland
Mei Zheng
Viola Tan

K–12 Committee

Lauren Allen, Associate Director, Project Open Door
Kameko Branchaud, Grant Writer and Administrator, Research
Soul Brown, Director, Research
Shana Cinquemani, Department Head of Teaching + Learning in Art + Design
Andrew Jacques, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, Continuing Education
Mariana Lefas-Tetenes, Assistant Director, School and Teacher Programs