Woonsocket's famous Museum of Work and Culture was the venue for our May 1, 2002 Dialogue--thanks to Ann Conway and Roger Bacon for allowing us to use the museum's Union Hall (for more information about the Museum of Work and Culture, visit http://www.rihs.org/visitone.htm).

We were fortunate to have a range of participants who represent Woonsocket's numerous neighborhoods and ethnic groups and who are both life-long residents and relative newcomers to this storied mill city. As is our routine, we began with the question, "What does it mean to be part of this community?" We frequently get an answer along the lines of, "I'm a newcomer-I've only been here 10 years." This time we heard, "Well, I'm from down south." After a dramatic pause, the speaker said, "I'm from Central Falls." So our meeting began with a laugh and a good example of what it means to be a "local."

When we asked, "What image comes to mind when someone says, 'Describe Woonsocket,'" several people commented that the media frequently depict Woonsocket as a "triple decker, washing on the line" kind of place. Participants then enumerated Woonsocket's many other assets. It has an established music and arts scene. Its still-evolving ethnic fabric includes not only the European, Mediterranean, and French-Canadian groups whose ancestors came in the 19th and 20th century to work in the mills but also newer influxes from the Hispanic and Asian cultures. Local housing stock includes not only the famous triple deckers but also single family homes and multi-storied Victorian mansions. National attention frequently focuses on Woonsocket through its association with the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor project, and visitors come to the city from around the world to learn about American industrial history.

The group identified several current community issues: "What do the city's youth think about Woonsocket and its future? Why don't we see many teenagers at our events? What would attract or inspire young people to live and work here?" Another issue raised was, "How can we protect, preserve, and re-use the numerous buildings-churches, mills, commercial buildings-that are so important to our city's physical feel and our cultural memory?" A third: "What would an industry find advantageous about Woonsocket today?" When the Dialogue facilitators asked the group to begin formulating some Fund for Community Engagement project ideas, these questions resurfaced. RICH looks forward to working with Woonsocket's FCE project committee to design a humanities-based project that speaks to one of these or other community issues the committee may develop.