David Cicilline and the RI Foundation: the 4th arm of government in RI
The RI Foundation seeks to keep the state’s safety net from unraveling, while stressing that we are all neighbors in a time of great division
Tkacik continued: “The Prospect story goes back to a classic 1980s business model: medical kidnapping.”
Only RI Attorney General Peter Neronha has stood up to Prospect Medical’s shenanigans.
PROVIDENCE – I was wrong; I was mistaken. I thought that my body could withstand just one more week of stress to produce an extra edition of ConvergenceRI in 2024. My body told me, in no uncertain terms, “No!”
The message my body sent to me me was clear: I needed to rest and to give myself time to heal from the cumulative stress of producing a weekly digital news platform. Why wasn’t I listening? What made it so difficult to hear?
I wrongly thought that it would matter, that it would be important both for me and my readers, that I made the extra effort to cover what I had considered to be two major newsworthy events held on Wednesday, Dec. 11:
- The first was the release of the 5thannual R.I. Life Index, produced by the School of Public Health at Brown University and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island.
- The second was a public discussion, moderated by Boston Globe columnist Dan McGowan, on the release of the Rhode Island Foundation’s new, five-year strategic plan, “Only Together.”
Both events occurred on the day of a massive winter rainsquall that inundated the city, another early warning sign that the climate urgency afflicting our world was not going to disappear but only worsen in its intensity.
I had arrived a half-hour late into the speaking program for the release of the R.I. Life Index. The participants included many of the leading nonprofits in Rhode Island – United Way of Rhode Island, Community Provider Network of RI, the Economic Progress Institute, HousingWorks RI, the Latino Policy Institute, MLPB, the RI Community Food Bank, and Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.
Later that same evening, I made my way back downtown to the Providence G ballroom on Dorrance Street, site of the Rhode Map-sponsored panel discussion hosted by The Boston Globe columnist Dan McGowan. The torrential rainstorm still continued, unabated.
The next day, on Thursday afternoon, I met briefly with David Cicilline, the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, in a one-on-one interview. The former Mayor of Providence and former Congressman had allotted ConvergenceRI 15 minutes for an interview. [On Monday, Dec. 16, ConvergenceRI would meet Dan McGowan for coffee at Seven Stars on Point Street.]
The Rhode Island Foundation has become the veritable fourth arm of government in Rhode Island, attempting to preserve the state’s safety net that has been torn asunder by an unwillingness by the General Assembly to increase taxes in order to pay for much-needed programs – in health care, in education, in housing, and in biotech.
It is never easy to try and jump off the work treadmill when you are in the news business:
- Several events also occurred that week that were certainly newsworthy – an advance ribbon-cutting at the new Harm Reduction Center in Providence before it actually opened for business, and the announcement of the public coronation of the new CEO at the RI Life Science Hub, Mark Turco.
Then, on late Friday night, in an expected turn, Gov. Dan McKee held a news conference to announce that the state data systems had been hacked by the forces of the dark web. At risk were many of the hundred of thousands of residents who participated in state-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid.
It had been a busy news week, for sure. But, in retrospect, the most important, far-reaching session, mostly not covered by the media, was the talk given on Wednesday, Dec. 11, by Dr. Mary Beth Terry, the executive director of the Silent Spring Institute, on what was driving the rising rates of early onset breast cancer in younger adults and the link to toxins and plastics – and strategies for prevention. [See link below.]
[Editor’s Note: Perhaps someone in Barrington might sponsor a public viewing of the Silent Spring Institute program as the debate heats up over plans to build an artificial turf field, despite worries about the contamination of PFOAs and PFAs.]
Lost in the flood
Twice, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, my legs gave out on me as I was walking in the torrential downpour to and from the events, as my body, responding to my chronic health conditions, said: Stop the stress.
In the evening, after attending the Rhode Island Foundation gathering, walking back to my car, my legs started to give way, and I was rescued by the kindness of two strangers, pedestrians. They held me upright, one on each arm, and walked me back to my car.
Earlier that morning, attempting to attend the RI Life Index session, my legs had also buckled, and another kind stranger ended up driving me in her car to South Street Landing. The security guard informed me that there was no wheelchair available, so I managed, slowly, to get the elevators. After the Index event, another kind stranger, from Brown’s School of Public Health, drove me back to my parked car.
My body was telling me, in no uncertain terms: Stop the stress. But I was not listening very well.
Our narrative unbound
So, that was the week that was. The long-running attempt to capture the narrative about life in Rhode Island and how we talk about ourselves was on full display. Was anyone listening?
- The one-page, double-sided fact sheet for the 2024 RI Life Index, entitled “Amplifying Rhode Islanders’ Voices,” captured the basic data findings: The overall RI Life Index score declined one point, to 57 percent from 58 percent in the last year, with drops in the perceptions about quality of community, community life, affordable housing, cost of living, and job opportunities. There was also a decline in the overall scores for access to nutritious food and food security. On the sunnier side of the street, the survey found a distinct improvement in perceptions about health care access among Black and Latino/a residents.
As part of the R.I. Life Index’s efforts to capture what Rhode Islanders perceive about their health and well being, the organizers have launched a project called “Rhode Island Voices,” through which as many as 1,000 people will be enlisted to be regularly surveyed, working with community-based organizations, to better identify urgent needs as they emerge.
- The Rhode Island Foundation’s five-year strategic action plan, entitled “Only Together,” was presented in a 39-page document, expertly designed, that attempted to explain the foundation’s future strategic direction in how it directs its philanthropic investments.
There were a number of major shifts in focus: “climate action and sustainability” was added as a community priority, and under the community priority called “civic and cultural life,” the first major focus area was a new addition: “Enhancing access to trusted news and information sources, including support of independent local journalism.”
Exactly how that support will be leveraged is unclear, but in his discussion with Dan McGowan, David Cicilline, the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, spoke about working in collaboration with Press Forward, an initiative of the MacArthur Foundation, to invest as much as $500 million in local news enterprises. Two Rhode Island news organizations, ecoRI News and The Providence Eye, had received initial investments in the first round of grants from Press Forward. [The Boston Globe also handed out its 2024, Philanthropy Guide, “New England Gives,” but most of the listed entries were focused on nonprofits serving Greater Boston and eastern Massachusetts, with a dearth of Rhode Island entries, a definite “tilt” in the narrative.]
In the same kettle of fish
ConvergenceRI had been seriously considering applying for the next round of grants from Press Forward. But after learning during my one-on-one interview with Cicilline that it would result in my application being in direct competition with the Rhode Island Foundation, I decided against submitting a proposal.
What was my proposal? To gift ConvergenceRI to a not-for-profit community organization, to have the publication evolve into a workforce development tool, helping Rhode Islanders learn to tell – and to share – their own stories and to develop their own narratives, as a critical job skill in today’s disrupted economy.
The draft proposal began: We live in the Anthropocene Era. Everything we know about geography, ocean currents, weather patterns, and human migration has been disrupted by man-made climate change – specifically, fossil-fuel driven manufacturing and plastics production by accumulators of corporate wealth, marketed toward a consumer population that places greater value on convenience over longevity. The stories we tell about ourselves and our personal histories have been disrupted and distorted by those who control the means of production of news and information.
My draft proposal continued: In preparing this grant proposal for Press Forward to secure an investment in the infrastructure and legacy of ConvergenceRI, a weekly digital news platform that has reported on the convergence of health, science, innovation, research, technology, and community in Rhode Island for the past 12 years, I faced a conundrum.
My competition apparently includes the Rhode Island Foundation, the second-oldest community foundation in the nation with assets of more than $1.3 billion. They are the veritable fourth arm of government in Rhode Island, working hard to re-stitch the torn safety net of the social contract, dedicated to preserving the wealth of the wealthy by keeping those falling off the economic treadmill from falling too far off the cliff.
The Rhode Island Foundation is a subscriber to ConvergenceRI, and has been for more than a decade. They very much fit into the target audience that ConvergenceRI has identified – the movers, the shakers, the policymakers and the decision-makers in Rhode Island. It was based on the belief it did not matter how many clicks you could achieve by exploiting people’s fears and anxieties; what matters was who was doing the clicking.
Translated, in the age of surveillance capitalism [what Shoshana Zuboff has defined as “the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power,”] it is easy to distort, manipulate, and confuse and misinform anxious people afraid of the future darkness.
The recognition by Press Forward and the foundations that are backing its initiative about the need to preserve access to the flow of accurate, honest reporting and information is admirable.
I am applying for the latest grant to support “infrastructure,” in partnership with [a major community nonprofit agency] as the not-for-profit initiators of this application.
It is my intention to gift the for-profit enterprise of ConvergenceRI to the not-for-profit agency, to allow the publication to serve as the future home of a workforce development enterprise, enabling people to develop the necessary skills to tell their own stories and their own narratives as a way to sustain a more human way of life in the Anthropocene Era.
Telling stories, telling the truth, listening
This long introduction to the ConvergenceRI interview with David Cicilline, the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, perhaps contains “too much information.”
ConvergenceRI was recently featured in a cover story in Rhode Island Monthly written by freelancer Phil Eil, entitled: “The Local News Revolution in Rhode Island.” The one quote from me in the story went like this: ‘Richard Asinof told me he views people’s stories as their most valuable possessions and he believes that by sharing these stories, we become more human. “Creating a vehicle where you can share those storis creates a community and a neighborhood, whether or not you actually live right next to each others,” he says.’
What got left out of the Eil’s story was the context: my decision to publish a monthly column on sobriety, “The Bright Side,” my willingness to share the perspective of high school students, and my coverage of the ongoing disruption within the state’s health care delivery system.
My brief interview with Cicilline, 15 minutes of dialogue, now published a month later, captures Rhode Island at a turning point in how it will tell its own narrative – much like the import of Cab Calloway’s “[We want a] 15 minute intermission, boss.” [See link to video below.]
The new public relations strategic emphasis is on storytelling: Following his Jan. 14 state of the state address, Gov. Dan McKee proclaimed on X: “Rhode Island is a team with a story to tell.”
But the questions are: Whose stories are being told? Who is listening? In an unprecedented move to quash protesters of the Governor’s policies from being heard, public access to the State House was denied for four hours, coinciding with the Governor’s address. In addition, outside TV cameras were excluded from covering the Governor’s speech.
Here is the ConvergenceRI interview with David Cicilline, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, squeezed in between his attendance on the Special Legislative Commission on Housing [of which he is a member], and an interview with Channel 12 newsmakers.
Cicilline, in ConvergenceRI’s opinion, much like RI Attorney General Peter Neronha, will play an oversized role in protecting Rhode Islanders in the coming months. If ConvergenceRI speaks in a slow, often modulated tone of voice, Cicilline talks in a rapid-fire delivery, his thoughts voiced in a rat-a-tat-tat style.
Further, as the Rhode Island Foundation pivots to address climate urgency, the question is: Whom will Cicilline and his staff rely upon to educate themselves? Are Cicilline and his staff willing to engage with Providence-based science writer Rebecca Altman, one of the leading experts on the role of plastics manufacturing, a key factor in the changing climate?
ConvergenceRI: When I did an interview with you in February, during which, according to my recollection, I was the one that had mentioned Press Forward to you. Were you aware of the initiative before I brought it up?
CICILLINE: That would be smart for you to take credit for making me aware of it. But I had heard about it. You did mention it; you’re right.
I will say that that was early enough in my tenure I wasn’t actually assimilated – was that in February?
ConvergenceRI: Yes.
CICILLINE: But I met John Palfrey [president of the MacArthur Foundation] at a conference.
ConvergenceRI: I have a question of self-interest. As you know, and I mentioned it to you in February, my current health is not in great shape. I am not making “an ask.” I’m letting you know that my health situation has deteriorated and I am put in a situation where I need to make decisions, and I’m letting you know, to be aware of that.
I was planning on making a bid to Press Forward, and was therefore surprised to hear last night that you were, all of sudden, considering to be in charge of distributing funds through Press Forward, which I hadn’t heard about before in any part of that public discussion.
My clarification, is to ask: Is the Rhode Island Foundation going to be doing that, or not? Because, last night, you seemed to say that you were.
CICILLINE: Yes. Press Forward. They [plan to] designate a community as a Press Forward chapter. We’ve submitted an application, on our behalf, by the Van Beuren Charitable Foundation, for Press Forward to work cooperatively with us. We hope that, I expect that they will approve us, but we don’t know that for sure. And then, that will allow us to create a Press Forward chapter here. We don’t know exactly what that means. It means, for sure, that we will continue to support local journalism, to support this ecosystem, and I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t be in that conversation.
ConvergenceRI: My problem is that I am a for-profit corporation.
CICILLINE: [interrupting] We can include for-profit media.
ConvergenceRi: Not according to the latest Press Forward application [for investment in infrastructure]. It has to be done through a nonprofit.
CICILLINE: The chapter has to be. But that doesn’t preclude us. It doesn’t preclude ConvergenceRI from being part of the coalition. How you might access funding is a different question.
ConvergenceRI: I am concerned because I have to make decisions about how to partner. My basic plan is to find a nonprofit and gift the enterprise of ConvergenceRI to that nonprofit to basically serve as a workforce development solution.
CICILLINE: You must know all the [independent news outlets] like ecoRI and Providence Eye.
ConvergenceRI: I used to work collaboratively with ecoRI. And with some of the other news sources; it’s a very confusing world if you are not familiar; yes, I know most of the players.
From my perspective, what I do is fairly unique, compared to everyone else in the marketplace. I cover health care, in a way nobody else does. Particularly in terms of health care delivery as convergence. I like that word.
In my latest edition, I reported on the confusion around narrative. I use the example of the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, as an example of how crazy it’s become that the Boston Globe has one narrative, and STAT has a completely different narrative, and they are both owned by the same person, John Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox. The question is: Who is talking to whom, about what? What’s the narrative? [See link below to ConvergenceRI story, “It’s all about the narrative.”]
It becomes very confusing [to readers], because people don’t understand that there is an oligarchy that exists in health care [one that often controls the narrative]. And people don’t understand where the narratives are coming from…
And all they know is, whether you are a patient, or a doctor, or a nurse, there is the feeling that you are getting screwed over.
CICILLINE: I found that pervasive response to that murder to be shocking.
I mean, a number of prominent business and mostly political leaders are saying: “Well, we understand that people are getting frustrated…” Really? This is cold-blooded murder. And, however frustrated you are about anything, murder is never the answer.
It revealed the level of outrage against insurance companies,
ConvergenceRI: The outrage is real, if you’ve been on the other end of trying to get services…
CICILLINE: …like pre-authorization
ConvergenceRI: You are familiar with the fact that it took me six months to get approval to have surgery done, because EviCore, which is Blue Cross’s prior medical benefits management firm, said that my MRI was out of date, it was eight months old, and it had to be within the last six months for surgery to be approved. As a result, two days before my surgery was supposed to occur in August, they cancelled it.
CICILLINE: Oh my God.
ConvergenceRI: On Monday morning before the scheduled Wednesday surgery, I got a phone call [from EviCore] saying they had cancelled my surgery. The amount of pain I was in was enormous, but I had no recourse, I had to go have another MRI done, which took another month and a half, and even then, I couldn’t get the surgery rescheduled. EviCore denied it three more times before I finally had the surgery.
As a result of the surgery, all my symptoms improved dramatically, but it took from the last week in August to the first week in February to have the surgery done, through no fault of my own. I hadn’t done anything “wrong.” I had followed through, I was vigilant about making sure that all these things happened, but the level of frustration and anger was intense. I’m not going to go out and shoot anybody.
CICILLINE: The health care system can be overwhelming.
ConvergenceRI: You occupy an enormously important role. You are the person who keeps the safety net [in Rhode Island] quilted together. You are the fourth arm of government.
CICILLINE: Why don’t you put that in your story.
ConvergenceRI: I will. [It is the headline.]
CICILLINE: That’s a nice quote.
ConvergenceRI: I continue to believe that you have the ability to keep Rhode Island from disintegrating because of the role that you’ve taken on and your knowledge of how the system works. Without your leadership, I don’t know where we would be, because it is not coming from, in my opinion, from the legislative or gubernatorial leaders.
You have an incredibly important role to play about health care, in education and in housing. You have now elevated the role of addressing urgent climate change, which is a big change. I don’t know if people fully recognize what that means in terms of redirecting financial resources. Is it a big change for the Rhode Island Foundation to take on climate urgency?
CICILLINE: It is in the new action plan. And, the reason why it took nearly a full year was because, as I mentioned last night, I wanted to be sure that this action plan was really informed by Rhode Islanders. That we had an opportunity to hear directly from Rhode Islanders about what they felt were the biggest challenges in their lives – and the greatest opportunities.
[The outcomes are] really consistent with what we heard from over 2,000 Rhode Islanders over the course of the last year. Sometimes it was at a community dinner; sometimes it was a survey, sometimes in a focus group or at a meeting. Sometimes it was just a one-on-one conversation. There was polling. Our goal was to give Rhode Islanders a chance to be heard.
In the area of economic opportunity, because we heard so much about housing, because we are faced with such a housing crisis, we really wanted to call that out, and say: We want to reframe that community priority, to make sure that it wasn’t just about economic opportunity, but making sure that we are dealing with issues of generational wealth, so that people have long-term financial well being.
The two newer areas, although we do work in both of them, are climate and civic health, and cultural life,
On climate, we heard a lot from Rhode Islanders, who said: We’re the Ocean State; one of the things that we love most about Rhode Island is its natural beauty. But they voiced concern about whether we are prepared to respond to the very serious consequences about climate change.
There is a lot of good work happening in Rhode Island, but it’s not always coordinated. It's not always done pursuant to a central comprehensive plan, so to speak.
[We will work] with the state – as well as with a lot of really good organizations that are doing this work. I’ll be honest with you; we have a number of donors who are very interested in climate, and they have been wondering: who is taking the lead in Rhode Island doing this work?
The same thing is true for civic health. People talk about it differently, but over and over again, people voiced concern about what they saw as the divisions [in our society] as a big problem, and they thought we needed to focus on that.
They asked: Is there anything the Rhode Island Foundation can do just to help bridge some of the divide, because we live in such a divided time, such a divided country? They all seemed to understand how government functions, but they are losing faith in it,
And so, this idea of investing in civic health, which is so critical to all the work we are doing, to have people [feel that their] voices are heard, to make sure that people are being responded to in ways that are important to them,
We do some of that already: we support civics education, we support local journalism; we support diversity.
But, this is really an acknowledgement that we can do more of that, that we can bring people together. As a community foundation, at the heart of what we do in is in being a community. There is a lot of evidence that people who are connected to their neighbors are healthier, and they are better at work and better at school, and there’s less crime, all kinds of evidence that healthy communities are connected communities.
ConvergenceRI: Connectivity is one of the key underlying concepts of my work. And storytelling. Our personal stories are our most valuable possessions that we have, and the more that we can find a way to share those stories, we can build upon the convergence that has to take place, to realize that we all live in the same neighborhood.
CICILLINE: That’s right; that is exactly right.
ConvergenceRI: And, the role that the Rhode Island Foundation can play is making it clear that we are all neighbors.
CICILLINE: That’s right.