Episode 5 – 10/24/25

Communities of Hope, a civic media organization at Roger Williams University, is developing an AI-powered chatbot to assist incarcerated youth and children in foster care systems. The tool, created by database team members Ashlyn Keating, Dennis Kinger, and Eric Tech, will provide access to counseling services, job opportunities, educational programs, and legal resources. The chatbot will be featured on the organization’s website at hope.rwu.edu and will initially focus on Rhode Island resources before expanding nationally. The team is also developing an educational game to teach journalism and multimedia production skills to incarcerated individuals, and planning a mobile app for the newsroom. This initiative comes as Rhode Island faces ongoing challenges in its juvenile justice system, with approximately 65-70% of arrested youth having diagnosable mental health conditions. The project aligns with broader efforts by organizations like Kids Count Rhode Island to reduce youth incarceration rates and improve community-based mental health services.

*This story has been supported by the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems