Over a two day span, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren joined Rhode Island state officials, Boston Fed leadership, and members of the philanthropic, nonprofit, business, and local government communities to celebrate the cities of Cranston, Newport, and Providence as the winners of the Fed’s Working Cities Challenge. The three cities will each receive multiyear grants of $400,000 to support programs designed to spur workforce development and job creation among low- and moderate-income residents.

On May 11, President Rosengren toured each of the winning cities to engage with cross-sector leaders from each team, which included a tour of affordable housing and the Florence Grey Center in Newport, a conversation on bridging the city’s east and west divide at the Pastore Youth Center in Cranston, and a dialogue on workforce systems change in Providence.

The celebration continued to the following day on May 12, at the Providence Public Library with Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo and the winning teams. In addition to comments from Governor Raimondo and members from the three cities, the audience also heard from Commerce Rhode Island Senior Community Development Advisor Dan Jennings and Living Cities President & CEO Ben Hecht.

The Working Cities Challenge, a competition for Rhode Island communities to improve the lives of low-income and people of color, launched in Rhode Island with state, private sector, and not-for-profit support in 2015.