LRI Civic Action Network

The LRI Civic Activation Network (CAN) connects people to the skills, relationships and opportunities they need to contribute to Rhode Island, so the leadership and trust we build turns into participation, collaboration and action.

We already develop leaders and build relationships. The CAN makes the next step deliberate rather than incidental. It is alumni-powered, and open beyond the alumni network.

FOUR QUESTIONS THE NETWORK STARTS ASKING ON PURPOSE

1. Who could this person mentor?
2. Which organization needs their experience?
3. What idea needs the right partners?
4. How do we make sure it happens?

Rhode Island has no shortage of talented people and organizations working to strengthen their communities. What’s missing is the connective tissue between them.

The 2022 Rhode Island Civic Health Index and the Rhode Island Foundation’s Action Guide for Improving Civic Health both point to the same need: more places, tools and relationships that connect Rhode Islanders across their differences.

Sources: Rhode Island Civic Health Index (2022); Rhode Island Foundation, Action Guide for Improving Civic Health (2024).

We sit between everyone, and belong to no one.

No other Rhode Island institution is designed to sit intentionally across and between sectors, generations and communities at once. LRI serves as the Force Multiplier for individuals, organizations and communities; the Connective Tissue, the relational infrastructure between them; and the Ecosystem Host, the convener who holds the whole table.

Because LRI is not any one stakeholder, we can:

• Convene people who don’t normally share space
• Hold dialogue without advancing a fixed agenda
• Adapt to emerging issues without mission drift
• Serve as trusted civic infrastructure across administrations and movements

The CAN works through three connected pillars. Enter where the opportunity fits. The pillars are not a required sequence, and no one is expected to move through every one.

ENGAGE · GROW THE CAPACITY TO CONTRIBUTE
“I feel ready to contribute.”

• Know and use strengths: strengths-based development for individuals, managers and whole teams
• Understand community issues: civic learning, leadership workshops and shared exploration of the state’s challenges
• Practice leading across differences: Civity, facilitated dialogue and coaching

CONNECT · MAKE RELATIONSHIPS EASIER TO BUILD
“I know people. I belong. I can reach out.”

• Conversation and shared understanding: Bread & Salt dinners and other conversations across difference
• Mentoring and knowledge exchange: multigenerational relationships and structured peer learning
• Access to people and institutions: board matchmaking and ongoing relationship stewardship

ACTIVATE · PUT IDEAS AND LEADERSHIP TO WORK
“I can make a meaningful contribution.”

• Community participation and service: volunteer, participate, and bring real skills to a community need
• Collaborative projects: Leadership in Action teams and other project teams
• A realistic next step for an idea: connecting it with the people and support to test it

Not every idea needs a new organization. Often it needs the right people.

The CAN grows as partnership and support are secured, building on work LRI already does well.

Alumni-powered and community-connected. LRI’s 3,300+ alumni, across every sector, generation and community in the state, are a starting point, not the boundary. Everyone brings something, and everyone can learn:

• Alumni and participants bring experience and relationships
• Community members bring ideas and lived experience
• Nonprofits and civic groups bring needs, expertise and partnership
• Employers and institutions bring access and opportunities

LRI HOSTS THE PROCESS. THE NETWORK CARRIES THE WORK.
LRI convenes and facilitates, stewards relationships, and supports communication and learning. Alumni and community members bring strengths and ideas, make introductions, and mentor, collaborate and lead. Community partners define needs and assets, shape projects together, and help carry the work forward.

What holds it together is network weaving: building trust, making thoughtful introductions, and staying connected.

We don’t just develop leaders; we build a network, measurably. We map the relationships inside each Core Program cohort at entry and again at midpoint. Cohorts arrive as near-strangers, and they densify the same way, every year.

When LRI’s network gets pointed at something, it moves. A sample of four decades of activation:

• 2011 · Publick Occurrences. A statewide civic conversation series, in partnership with the Providence Journal.
• 2012 · Central Falls. Place-based work with a city in receivership, including “Save Chocolateville.”
• 2014 · Make RI Stronger. Strengths-based organizational development, now in its second decade.
• 2016 · Statewide Block Party. Neighbors meeting neighbors, at scale, across Rhode Island.
• 2022 · Transform RI Scholarship. Youth voice and youth ideas, with implementation support behind them.
• 2023 · Woonsocket. One young person’s vision, carried forward by 74 cross-sector leaders. Read the story

One network, many ways to contribute: different contributions, different commitments, shared purpose. Each is a useful way in, not a required progression.

1. Share insight. Bring lived experience or a new perspective.
2. Make an introduction. Connect people whose interests or work align.
3. Mentor someone. Offer encouragement, experience and access.
4. Offer your skills. Support a partner, a project or a civic role.
5. Help an idea move. Explore a possibility and a useful next step.

Whether you’re an LRI alum, a community member, a nonprofit or an employer, there’s a place for you in the network. Tell us a little about yourself and we’ll be in touch about the right next step.

Interested in partnering with or supporting the CAN? We’d welcome the conversation.