After more than 25 years of service, Kari Lang leaves a legacy of resilience and collaboration at WBNA.
After more than twenty-five years of leadership, Executive Director Kari Lang announces her retirement from the West Broadway Neighborhood Association (WBNA).
“WBNA has been my life and I am proud of the work I have done,” said Lang of her departure, “but it’s time for both me and WBNA to start new chapters.” During Lang’s tenure at WBNA, the organization raised tens of millions of dollars for neighborhood infrastructure improvements, and amassed a collection of demonstration projects that have been replicated in other neighborhoods and beyond. Lang also grew the organization to having multiple staff members, a diverse board of directors, and ownership of multiple properties that include affordable housing, retail and office space – the most recognizable of which is the quirky and iconic vintage Texaco station used as WBNA’s headquarters.
WBNA’s Board of Directors expressed its loss and appreciation of Director Lang in a heartfelt statement: “We are humbled by Kari’s accomplishments. Words alone cannot express the passion and selfless dedication that she has exhibited throughout her tenure as Executive Director of the WBNA. With deep admiration, we are saddened by the news of her retirement, yet we are excited for her as she moves on to enjoying this new chapter in her life. Because of Kari, the West Broadway Neighborhood Association stands on a rock-solid foundation and is well-positioned to move to its next exciting phase.”
In her early years, Lang focused on WBNA’s role as a catalyst and place for civic engagement, working with neighbors and city and elected officials to bring more municipal services and resources to the neighborhood. Lang advocated for ongoing improvement of local parks, including 3 separate rebuilds of the playground at Dexter Training Ground over the past 3 decades; a pilot rat-proof trash can project that led in part to the city’s adoption of a citywide program providing rat-proof trash cans to every Providence resident; a pilot program to allow overnight parking that was eventually enacted citywide; public trash cans on the neighborhood’s “main streets” of Broadway and Westminster; traffic calming measures; and support for the neighborhood’s public school buildings.
Other successful demonstration projects led by Lang include a compost and oil recycling program; Rhode Island’s first bulk purchase solar panel program and solar revolving fund; and a neighborhood-turned-statewide campaign that resulted in landmark property rights legislation, giving residents rights as to where gas meter installations could be placed by utility companies on their properties.
Alongside her persistent advocacy, Lang committed herself to the exuberant and better-known work of the neighborhood association: building a sense of community through free public events and volunteer opportunities including annual neighborhood-wide cleanups; more than 20 years of neighborhood-wide yard sales; free concerts and live performances in the park; block parties; family-friendly community Halloween parties; and neighborhood tree plantings. Lang is most proud of the strong sense of community she has helped foster where neighbors know each other, have a pride of place, and believe in the potential to make a difference in their neighborhood.
Lang’s work at WBNA reflected her passion to foster “places for people” from the largest building in the neighborhood – the Cranston Street Armory which she dubbed “the Castle for the People” – to the small garage at 1192 Westminster Street which will be converted into a one-bedroom apartment for a housing voucher client. Lang, whose background is in historic preservation, believes all neighbors deserve a seat at the planning table and a voice in what happens where they live, and that places should be protected and preserved for all people as a way to combat climate change and gentrification.
Lang led grassroots campaigns for community-centered development and worked to change policy in the city of Providence. She actively fought harmful development wherein buildings would be purchased and demolished, and then replaced with inappropriate buildings that displace local people and places. She helped develop the West Side Overlay Zone, expand the Armory local historic district, and stood up relentlessly for neighborhood plans that neighbors – not developers or planners – shaped through authentic bottom-up community processes. Lang believes in creating pathways for public participation that give neighbors a chance for representation in challenging bureaucratic systems. Lang’s goals in all her collaborative work were to help shape a walkable, vibrant neighborhood where neighbors of all backgrounds, incomes, ethnicities, live and work together and have the opportunity to make the place where they live support a better quality of life for all.
A turning point in WBNA’s capacity for neighborhood improvement and impact happened when Lang created a community development committee under the organization. This allowed WBNA to purchase and rehab five underutilized properties in the neighborhood, turning three of them into affordable housing at 1192 Westminster, 1390 Westminster, and 1577 Westminster Street. WBNA also purchased and remediated toxic former gas station sites at 1560 Westminster and 1326 Westminster, turning the former into WBNA’s headquarters, and selling the latter to Community MusicWorks which will build a new state-of-the-art building to house its music programs. Lang led these redevelopment projects with a vision to use existing buildings and materials, incorporate green technologies, and include ground floor retail in “Main Street” developments to foster a strong local business economy and provide much needed services to neighbors.
Lang centered much of WBNA’s fundraising and grant writing efforts on improving the neighborhood’s streetscapes so that it would be a safer place for residents and a more welcoming place for businesses. Her persistence resulted in securing over $40 million in public investment and grant funding for the neighborhood and catalyzing millions more in private investment. These funds supported traffic redesign and the creation of the city’s newest “pocket park” at Luongo Memorial Square, which enjoys greenery and the artist-designed Decatur Fountain; the Westminster Street Decorative Lighting project which among its goals was to enhance the connection to Olneyville; ongoing support for the maintenance of the Cranston Street Armory; and countless improvements to roads and sidewalks.
Over many years, Lang focused on issues of gentrification, affordable housing, integration and inclusion. WBNA has hosted housing meetings, advocated for affordable housing in new and existing development, supported legislation that fights housing discrimination, and has worked to increase affordable housing in the neighborhood with its own properties and through advocacy at city and community-led development project review meetings. Lang turned WBNA’s attention and efforts towards supporting the neighborhood’s public schools as a pathway towards a more inclusive and integrated community. Additionally, she has led the organization toward having a board of directors and committees that closely align with the neighborhood’s demographics.
“It’s been a privilege to work with so many dedicated neighbors, elected officials, and partners throughout the city and state,” said Lang. “Together we’ve made remarkable positive change in our community. With the continued work of WBNA’s board and our neighbors, I know the work will continue for years to come for the betterment of everyone in our neighborhood.”