Hope Pod Live

Garden Time is a Rhode Island–based organization that works to humanize the situation at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution. They run three programs: an In-Prison Garden Education Program, which teaches incarcerated individuals sustainable agricultural skills; a Green Reentry Job Training Program, which supports formerly incarcerated persons through hands-on training and employment pathways in the green industry; and the Canopy Crew, an urban forestry initiative that employs...

This story details the disproportionate representation and negative outcomes for Black children in the foster care system. Black children, who make up about 14% of the child population, represent 22% to 23% of children in foster care and are removed from their homes at excessively high rates. This disparity is driven by the intersection of poverty, where Black families are more often labeled neglectful, and institutional bias, resulting in higher reporting and investigation rates by schools,...

A new Communities of Hope report highlights systemic gaps in Rhode Island’s juvenile justice mental health services, revealing that state‑mandated protections often fall short of meeting adolescents’ needs. Although the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) asserts that young people entering the training school have “unimpeded access” to private healthcare and mandatory screenings—including suicide risk assessments and meetings with social workers—research shows these measures...