🌱 Milagros Project Honors MLK Day + $250,000 More For Downtown?

Sylvia Cochran
Updated ·3 min read
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Happy Monday, people of Woonsocket, and happy Save the Eagles Day! Let's get you all caught up to start today off on an informed note.

You can participate in the Milagros Project’s Day of Service! Also, a proposal to offer $250,000 in funding for downtown businesses may not go forward. Finally, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discusses a grant for the Woonsocket PD.

First, today's weather:

Partly sunny and breezy. High: 29 Low: 12.

Here are the top four stories in Woonsocket today:

  1. The Milagros Project is honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a Day of Service. You can participate by bringing feminine hygiene products and diapers to the All Saints Church Parking Lot on Saturday. You may do so between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. (Milagros Project)

  2. The Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative wants the City Council to allocate $250,000 for Main Street area business owners. This money should be earmarked for building renovations. “The program would help modernize Main Street’s historic properties, many of which remain out of compliance with contemporary building and fire codes.” However, Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt may not be on board with the idea, pointing out “a pandemic-era grant program that funneled COVID relief funds to local businesses and said the city has offered new signage and other improvements in the downtown area.” (Valley Breeze)

  3. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse announced Wednesday that the Woonsocket PD will receive a grant totaling $819K to “help divert people dealing with addiction to treatment rather than jail.” “This federal funding will help save lives and change lives for the better. It gives people a chance to get treatment and the level of care they need. It will also help save taxpayers by reducing avoidable health and social service expenditures related to the costs of untreated addiction.” The PD will create the program with input from Brown University, Columbia University, and others. (Sheldon Whitehouse)

  4. Lincoln announced Thursday that it will hire an outside consultant to determine the timing of roadway repaving. It follows the lead of Pawtucket, which has already adopted this method. Funds from the American Recovery Plan Act will be instrumental in getting the city caught up. Cumberland is considering working with a consultant but hasn’t made any decision yet. (Valley Breeze)

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Today in Woonsocket:

  • New England Winter Expo at the Rhode Island Convention Center (9 AM to 6 PM)

  • Monday Morning Book Group at the Warwick Library (10 AM)

  • The Cumberland Public Library presents Sleepy Storytime (online) (6:30 PM)

From my notebook:

Loving the Woonsocket Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved:

You're officially in the loop for today. See you all tomorrow morning for another update!

— Sylvia Cochran

About me: Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing full-time since 2005. She loves dogs, cats, books, plays Best Fiends (don't judge), embraces social justice, and tries to live out Micah 6:8.

This article originally appeared on the Woonsocket Patch