In 1992, New Commons helped the Providence Foundation convene a series of workshops to create a vision of Providence in the year 2010. In 2009, Providence Foundation again convened a series of workshops to envision a future Providence. This time, the foundation invited young and emerging leaders to share their thoughts on what Providence could be in 2030.

Participants came from large and small businesses, non-profit and advocacy organizations, and from within city government. In late July, the emerging leaders presented their vision document to the Providence Foundation's Board of Directors. The vision was subsequently presented at Pecha Kucha Night: Providence. At present, the visioning process is in transition to become a network that can begin to implement some aspects of the vision. 

On an annual basis, EPSCoR hosts a Diversity Workshop for a variety of stakeholders to further augment their efforts to attract and retain students of color in the STEM disciplines.

Michelle Gonzalez of New Commons was engaged to facilitate the workshop in order to enhance the sustainability of this project.  In previous years the Diversity Workshop engaged participants in principles of diversity, but didn't create a plan to further make the diversity initiative a systemic one.  

The agenda started with a panel presentation from the following individuals to futher amplify the question of "What is diversity and how do we harness this initiative for our students?" 

Creative Providence Cultural plan will:

• Be the result of a broadly inclusive, city-wide process;
• Attempt to integrate arts, culture, and creativity into all aspects of city life by making specific, realistic recommendations for action;
• Aim to stimulate economic development, strengthen the creative economy, education, and civic engagement, and, enhance the quality of life in the City of Providence;
• Serve as a catalyst for metro and statewide conversations about the evolution of arts, culture, and creativity in Providence;
• Recognize artists, arts administrators, and cultural institutions as leaders already shaping the 21st century environment; and
• Provide emerging arts leaders and experienced professionals a collaborative platform to explore innovative and creative strategies for enriching arts, culture, and creativity in the capital city. 

New Commons has helped the PC IT Department develop tools and processes to deliver better Help Desk services to the Providence College user community.

Our initial workshops quickly revealed an interdependent set of service providers and their unified need for a 'self help resource.' The resulting wiki we helped create brings together almost all college departments.

Currently, we are working to train student Help Desk workers to facilitate focus group conversations. An ongoing series of focus groups covers a variety of topics including TV on campus and the use and management of email communications between the college and its community.

Ultimately, these focus group seek to identify thought-leaders on campus who can contribute to a Student Advisory, providing input on how computing affects their learning and living.

The CCEDC serves the entire Cape. Having facilitated a strategic planning process and drafted a plan in 2003, New Commons was recently re-engaged to facilitate the process of updating the plan.