Publick Occurrences, which received the Rhode Island Press Association Community Outreach Award in 2014 and 2015, is an annual forum series collaboratively developed and hosted by Leadership Rhode Island, The Providence Journal, and Rhode Island College.

Publick Occurrences serves to educate, engage, and provoke action around the most timely, controversial topics of the Rhode Island day by bringing together experts from the public and private sectors.

Named after the first multi-page newspaper published in 1690 and immediately shut down by the colonial government after one edition due to the provocative nature of the “reflections of a very high nature,” these free and open-to-the-public forums are an exercise in civil discourse. Deliberate audience engagement occurs through Q-and-A sessions and interactive audience polls.

Over 5000 people have attended a total of 15 Publick Occurrences forums in the past 6 years.

• Climate Change: The search for solutions
• Education Emergency: We Can’t Wait!

• Schools in Crisis
• The Polarization of American Politics: Can’t we all just get along?

• DCYF: Children in Crisis

• Is Commercial Fishing Sustainable?
• Pot & Profit in Rhode Island

• Race in Rhode Island

• Who is Qualified to Run Rhode Island?
• Middle Class Squeeze
• Is Rhode Island’s Mental Health System in Crisis?

• Privacy: Condition Critical?
• Obamacare in Rhode Island: Help or Hindrance?
• Young Men and Guns: How do we stop the violence?

• Economic Development in Rhode Island: Who’s in charge?
• Jobs vs. Skills: The perpetual mismatch in Rhode Island
• Rhode Island’s Economy: How do we fix it?

• Building a Better Teacher for Rhode Island
• The Pension Puzzle: What can we afford?
• War on Terror: Coming Home