October 31, 2015

Co-founders gratified as Urban Action program celebrates 25 years

Providence College freshmen and their campus Urban Action coordinators perform clean-up/ spruce-up duties with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council at Merino Park, Manton Gateway Park and Riverside Park--all in Providence-- Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. (photos by John Clarke Russ for Providence College)
Urban Action participants pick up litter in Providence in August 2015. (Photo by John Clarke Russ)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Approximately 60 undergraduate students and alumni attended a 25th reunion celebration of the College’s Urban Action program on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Highlights included a service project at Neutaconkanut Hill Park in Providence and a luncheon on campus with remarks by several program participants.]

As the founder of an 85-person public relations agency in Boston and San Francisco, Megan (O’Sullivan) O’Leary ’94 walks the line between business success and social responsibility with ease. Beneath her staff’s drive to satisfy clients like GE, Toyota, and Converse is a compelling desire to assist the community.

It’s a mindset that developed when O’Leary was an undergraduate at Providence College — sparked by the Urban Action program — and which she has passed on to employees. Pro-bono work for needy clients, team-building days at local food banks, and volunteering at non-profits during work time are part of the company’s culture.

“Urban Action — and the overall PC experience — instilled the value of community service in me for life,” said O’Leary, the co-founder and principal of InkHouse.

An Urban Action student scrapes a wall for painting during the first year of the program, in 1991.
Dawn Roepke ’95 scrapes a wall for painting at Advent House, a shelter for the homeless in Providence, during the first year of Urban Action in 1991.

O’Leary and Urban Action’s other co-founder, Nicole (Riva) Theis ’94, said they feel gratified, but not surprised, that the program continues to flourish as it celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.

“I am overjoyed and grateful,” said Theis, who got to know O’Leary when the two lived in Aquinas Hall. “I am overjoyed that the PC community has been able to positively affect so many lives over such a long period of time … both the underprivileged we have served and the students who have volunteered.

“I am grateful that Providence College, and Sharon Hay in particular, took two freshman girls seriously in their desire to make a mark on the school and the surrounding community.”

Hay, who is the director of the Office of Student Activities, was a strong advocate for the students’ initiative and has worked with Urban Action since its founding.

O’Leary, who credits Theis with the original idea of a community service program, said it is clear that Urban Action is part of the College’s fabric.

“I can’t say it is a huge surprise. Community service is a core value for PC, and Urban Action instills that value for freshmen from the minute they step on the campus to start their college career,” said O’Leary, who majored in English and political science.

Working the numbers

The program, which began with 17 participants the first year, grew rapidly in popularity and now involves 150 first-year students and 20-25 upperclass leaders annually. Approximately 3,500 students have contributed roughly 55,000 hours of labor over the past quarter-century. Hay said students have worked at about 50 unique sites all over the state of Rhode Island, though service projects have generally been located in Providence in recent years. Participants arrive a few days before the start of orientation in late August and work up to six hours a day for three days.

Students and leaders in the inaugural group of the Urban Action program sit on the steps of the Advent House project site in Providence.
Students and leaders in the inaugural group of the Urban Action program sit on the steps of the Advent House project site in Providence.

Urban Action volunteers have worked at wildlife preserves and community farms in the suburbs, as well as along riverbanks and in playgrounds and parks in and around Providence. A focal point for the last half-dozen years has been Neutaconkanut Hill, an 88-acre recreational park in Providence that includes trails, fields, wildflowers, stone walls, and brooks, and which is a natural habitat for small wildlife.

This year, the students worked at Neutaconkanut Hill and at four other sites in Providence: Merino Park, Riverside Park, Manton Gateway Park, and at Father Lennon Park, a venue less than a mile from campus. It is named for the late Rev. Joseph L. Lennon, O.P. ’40 & ’61Hon., a PC faculty member and administrator.

Tasks are as varied as the locations. Over the years, students have dug trenches for electrical lines for a midnight sports league, created community gardens, and picked up litter in recreational areas and neighborhoods. They have planted trees, painted benches and fences, cleared trails, weeded and raked, and cleared debris from house lots, fields, and parks.

In the process, the students have worked for and alongside numerous community partners and organizations such as the City of Providence Parks and Recreation Department, the Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy, and the Woonasquatucket River Watershed.

“Over the years, strong partnerships have been developed with local organizations that have come to rely on the work of the participants. The program sets a positive tone for the college experience,” said Hay, who noted many first-year students return as Urban Action leaders in subsequent years.

As Hay alluded, Urban Action has distinct personal benefits for students beyond service to and collaboration with the community. The program helps first-year students establish friendships and ease the transition to college, and it fosters leadership and peer-building skills, among other qualities.

“It gives them an unconditional support system like no other for their entire college stay at PC,” said Theis, a sociology major who worked for 15 years in advertising and is now the director of marketing for Wire-Mesh Products, Inc. in Atlanta, Ga.

Theis and O’Leary believe Urban Action is as strong as ever because it aligns with the College’s mission and has remained true to its original objectives of performing meaningful service while creating and nurturing personal ties among students.

“The UA team leaves behind a better place for all to enjoy and that keeps on giving for years,” said Theis. “It’s touching the lives of those around you, and lifelong relationships. Mission accomplished.”