​The Party Party of Rhode Island is excited to announce that it has begun returning ballot access signatures to city and town halls across the state. This significant milestone marks a crucial step in the Party Party's mission to bring fresh perspectives to Rhode Island's political landscape, with an ultimate goal of winning 5% (or more) in the 2024 general election in order to become the third officially recognized state political party in Rhode Island.
 
"We are thrilled to have reached this important milestone in our journey to bring meaningful reform to Rhode Island's political landscape," said Tony Jones, founder of the Party Party of Rhode Island. "Our success in gathering signatures is a testament to the hard work of our supporters and we are excited to continue building momentum and engaging with voters across the state."
 
Over the past several weeks, dedicated supporters of the Party Party of Rhode Island have worked tirelessly to gather the required number of signatures from registered voters.
 
Once the submission of ballot access signatures is complete, the Party Party will focus on engaging with voters throughout the state.
 
The Party Party of Rhode Island is committed to listening to the concerns of Rhode Islanders and working collaboratively to address the challenges facing the state.
 
For more information, please visit www.partyparty.vote or follow us on X @PartyPartyofRI

 At of the writing of this blog, we are about one month out from the ballot access window.

If you have some free time, please keep us in mind.

Collecting even a handful of signatures is a huge help.

                                                                       ​Email - PartyPartyRI @ Gmail.com

​The League of Women Voters - South County  (LWVSC) has announce that applications​ are now open for the 17th Annual Susan B. Wilson Civic Education Merit Award​s.  

With a first prize of $2000, the Susan B. Wilson Civic Education Merit Award​ is a statewide competition for teachers or teams of teachers of grades K through 12 in any public, charter, private or parochial school who incorporate civics in innovative ways into the classroom.  

Any individual educator or team of educators directly teaching K-12 students in a Rhode Island school (public, private, charter) is eligible to apply for the merit awards and applicants do not need to be history, civics or social studies teachers.

Also, any RI resident or RI group/organization may apply for the merit awards on behalf of an educator or team of educators currently teaching in a Rhode Island school upon consent of that person or teaching team.
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All Rhode Island educators and the individuals or groups who nominate them are encouraged to apply here ​(the deadline is March 20th)​

​The Rhode Island Commerce Corporation​ has announced a new request for proposals (RFP) to increase and promote attraction and destination events across the Ocean State.
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The RFP is being funded by a $2.27 million United States Economic Development Administration (EDA) Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation Grant.  ​

“...We are empowering Rhode Island’s cities and towns, regional tourism boards, and nonprofits, to think boldly and creatively,” said Governor Dan McKee. “We look forward to seeing their proposals that will help grow our economy and create memorable experiences for all Rhode Islanders and visitors.” 
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Awarded funds can be used to promote, maintain, or improve existing attractions, or to assist in the development of new attractions, with extra consideration being given to proposals that drive tourism during the off-season months. ​

The State of Rhode Island announced last November that visitor volume increased 5.4% in 2022 to 27.7 visitors. In 2022 visitor spending totaled $5.3 billion; a 17% increase over 2021, which helps the local economy to sustain nearly 85,000 jobs. 

Awards made will generally not exceed $200,000​

To get more information or to apply, see the full RFP here

Visitors to the newly refurbished website, RILegislature.gov, are now met by a clean looking, user friendly, and functional homepage.

“Our new website is aesthetically cleaner and easier to navigate. Our focus is to improve the website and make it easier for Rhode Islanders to engage with their Legislature,” said House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio. “We think this site offers significant enhancements that will greatly benefit members of the public. This is the first major website update in decades.”

In regards to ‘Capitol TV’ (the streaming and on-demand video portion of the site) the archived broadcast content is now better organized, and will offer closed captioning.

A new ‘Getting Started’ page provides General Assembly schedules, how to find and track legislation, and various ways to participate in the legislative process.

New pages about House and Senate members make it easier to find each legislator’s news, biography, and contact information.

Also, the ‘Legislative Calendar’ section allows visitors to quickly access information on legislative sessions, committees, and commission meetings.

The State says that the website work is ongoing, with a longer-term overhaul being done in stages with additional improvements emerging throughout 2024.
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Suggestions for updating the website can me emailed to: [email protected] ​

The Rhode Island Civic Learning Coalition​ is currently accepting event proposals for Rhode Island Civic Learning Week 2024. 

Rhode Island Civic Learning Week​ is series of events that will take place from March 11-15, 2024 and seeks to highlight the importance of civic education in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States.
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Students, teachers, and organizations are invited to host events (in the form of panels, workshops, discussions, etc) around topics of interest related to civics. ​

Those interested in organizing an event for Civic Learning Week can fill out the proposal form available at: https://www.ricivics.org/2024clw​ by January 12, 2024.