Governor Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Housing today announced grant awards to eight municipalities totaling approximately $1.1 million through the Municipal Fellows Program. This program places early-career professionals in roles focused on planning, zoning, and housing development, to support municipal efforts to increase housing production as well as grow the pipeline of planners in the state.
“My administration has made historic investments in housing development and preservation. Continued progress on housing goals depends on action at the local level,” said Governor Dan McKee in a statement. “With the Municipal Fellows program, we are directly supporting municipalities to move projects forward and address local barriers to housing production.”
Following in-depth discussions with municipal leaders, the Department of Housing identified key challenges to housing production, including staffing shortages at the local level which impact review process timelines and capacity to address local zoning issues. In response, the Department, in collaboration with its partners, launched the Municipal Fellows program as part of a series of municipal supports.
“Our municipalities play a critical role in addressing the housing crisis,” said Rhode Island Department of Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard in a statement. “The Department has engaged in conversations with all 39 cities and towns, as well as the League of Cities and Towns. It is clear that municipal leaders are eager to grow housing opportunities but often face barriers. In many conversations, we heard that staff capacity to engage in planning is a problem. That’s where the municipal fellows program comes in: putting new capacity right into cities and towns to move projects forward.”
Fellows are funded for nearly two years and are focused on planning and development activities within the municipality. Awardees include:
| Municipality | Award Amount |
Newport | $154,000 |
Coventry | $154,000 |
Cranston | $147,000 |
Foster | $147,000 |
Johnston | $147,000 |
Westerly | $147,000 |
Lincoln | $147,000 |
Cumberland | $103,459 |
To date, Coventry, Cranston, Newport, Johnston, Lincoln, and Westerly have successfully hired fellows, with the remaining municipalities making significant progress in their hiring efforts, according to Governor McKee’s office.
The Municipal Fellows program is part of a series of municipal supports created by the Department of Housing and other partners. Additional municipal supports include the recently announced $2.8 million in municipal infrastructure grants, led by the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank in partnership with the Department of Housing, to enhance municipal infrastructure and support the development of affordable housing across the state.
The Municipal Fellows program is funded by State Fiscal Recovery Funds.
