Publicado por Bella DeCrescenzo, July 24, 2025
“PROVIDENCE – When children play at their local parks, they are often provided with an abundance of free green space, playground equipment, ballfields and basketball courts, yet no place to go to the bathroom.
In response to community feedback, the Providence Parks Department y One Neighborhood Builders began adding these amenities with the opening of sustainable public bathrooms in Merino Park on July 17.
One Neighborhood Builders’ Central Providence Unidos launched a participatory budgeting initiative in 2022 where central Providence residents voted on the installation of public restrooms in their parks.
“I think folks recognize what an incredible resource our city’s parks are, but that for people to be able to stay in the parks and really use the parks the way they wanted to be using them, there needed to be some more amenities,” Anusha Venkataraman, the managing director for Central Providence Unidos, said. […]
One Neighborhood Builders is a long-standing community development organization known for its affordable housing development and work addressing health disparities.
One Neighborhood Builders established Central Providence Unidos, formerly known as Central Providence Opportunities: A Health Equity Zone.
“We are very focused on fostering health and economic equity, so we see health outcomes and economic outcomes as very much being intertwined, both in terms of the challenges and the opportunities that exist within the community,” Venkataraman said.
How did this participatory budgeting initiative work?
The Nine Neighborhood Fund participatory budgeting initiative allowed central Providence residents to vote on how $1 million should be spent within their community.
From 2022 to 2023, project delegates developed 20 proposals and voters selected eight projects, including the public bathrooms, a peer mental health training program and bus stop improvements.
As the idea of public bathrooms in parks solidified, One Neighborhood Builders began working with the parks department to figure out what this project would look like.
According to Providence Superintendent of Parks Wendy Nilsson, Merino Park is a difficult space to work with because of several environmental factors. They settled on sustainable restrooms from Wasted* PBC.”
