Hope Pod

This episode of Hope Pod Live delivers a wide-ranging look at community-centered stories from Rhode Island and the RWU campus. The broadcast features an emotional sports segment on Blackstone Valley Co-op hockey captain Colin Dorgan, whose championship performance follows a personal family tragedy, highlighting resilience and community support. Additional reporting examines Rhode Island’s foster c...

Interview for Heartfest

Interview for Heartfest

Interview for Heartfest

Interview for Heartfest

Interview for Heartfest

An interview for Heartfest

This episode delves into the role of technology in education, examining the question: Could technology ever truly replace teachers? The conversation focuses on how technological advancements impact students' learning experiences, the rate at which technology is being introduced in classrooms, and the ways educators can use these tools to enhance their teaching. In our interview with Dr. Amanda Dol...

This episode of Hope Pod Live on WQRI 88.3 FM highlights a range of student-produced stories focused on social justice and campus life at Roger Williams University and across Rhode Island. Coverage includes LGBTQ+ Health Awareness Week, the inaugural RWU men’s varsity hockey season and leadership insights from Coach Chris Hall, and analysis of Rhode Island child welfare data and policy planning. A...

In the inaugural episode of Tech in Education , our team sits down with Roger Williams Professor, Dr. Katherine Blagden, to discuss how technology and the use of artificial intelligence continue to change the classroom. Instead of letting AI manage the classroom, Dr. Blagden discusses how AI can be a tool in the classroom.

Roger Williams University's student radio show Hope Pod Live presented a wide-ranging episode covering local, state, and national issues. The broadcast featured investigative reporting on Foster Forward's Real Connections mentoring program addressing mental health challenges for foster youth, data analysis of Rhode Island's recent cybersecurity breaches affecting thousands of residents, and immigr...

A new Communities of Hope report highlights systemic gaps in Rhode Island’s juvenile justice mental health services, revealing that state‑mandated protections often fall short of meeting adolescents’ needs. Although the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) asserts that young people entering the training school have “unimpeded access” to private healthcare and mandatory screenings—inc...

This story details the disproportionate representation and negative outcomes for Black children in the foster care system. Black children, who make up about 14% of the child population, represent 22% to 23% of children in foster care and are removed from their homes at excessively high rates. This disparity is driven by the intersection of poverty, where Black families are more often labeled negle...

Hope Pod Live returns for its second week with comprehensive coverage of Rhode Island news and social justice issues. The February 14th episode features an exclusive interview with RWU senior Rachel Cabral about her groundbreaking research on Thomas White, a 19th-century freedom seeker whose manuscript was recently discovered. The show also covers Rhode Island transportation leadership changes, Br...

Hope Pod Live, Communities of Hope Civic Media's weekly radio show on WQRI 88.3 FM, returned for the spring 2026 semester with comprehensive coverage of pressing social justice issues. The broadcast featured in-depth reporting on Fred Korematsu Day commemorations at Roger Williams University, an investigation into Rhode Island's juvenile hearing boards as alternatives to traditional justice system...

Enacted in July 2021, Mario’s Law allows individuals who committed offenses before their 22nd birthday to be eligible for parole review after serving 20 years. The law applies retroactively to offenses committed on or after January 1, 1991, and excludes only those serving life without parole. Championed by Representative Julie Casimiro and inspired by Mario Monteiro’s own experience, the law is gr...

Garden Time is a Rhode Island–based organization that works to humanize the situation at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution. They run three programs: an In-Prison Garden Education Program, which teaches incarcerated individuals sustainable agricultural skills; a Green Reentry Job Training Program, which supports formerly incarcerated persons through hands-on training and employment pa...

The RWU Hawks took on the Connecticut College Camels last Saturday. The game was also the Hawks senior night game, celebrating 7 graduating seniors. The Hawks were defeated 7-1.

Currently, 30 out of 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island offer Juvenile Hearing Boards, an alternative to the juvenile justice system. Bernadette Tavares, the chair of the Providence Juvenile Hearing Board and Director of Careers at Foster Forward, and Luisa Sarante, Coordinator of the Providence Juvenile Hearing Board, explain how they actively engage with young first-time offenders so they can b...

A year after Donald J. Trump entered office for the second time, protests against ICE and the changes in immigration policy are increasing nationwide. With the public deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the deaths of those in detention centers such as Geraldo Lunas Campos due to mistreatment and unsanitary conditions, people are standing up. Despite tension, the administration is continuing...

Hope Pod Live's fall semester coverage examined critical social justice issues affecting Rhode Island communities, with particular focus on immigration policy changes and juvenile justice reform. The show documented how federal funding freezes under the Trump administration have devastated local refugee support organizations like Dorcas International, which faces losing a third of its staff and $1...

Roger Williams University's student journalism initiative, Communities of Hope, presents groundbreaking solutions journalism examining two critical pathways for vulnerable Rhode Island youth. The investigation highlights Child and Family Rhode Island's Independent Living Program (ILP), which provides housing, life coaching, and essential skills training for teens aging out of foster care—a program...

Hope Pod Live, Roger Williams University's student radio show on 88.3 FM WQRI, delivered comprehensive coverage of food insecurity and social justice issues during their weekly broadcast. The program featured an in-depth interview with Debbie Knapman, Director of Student and Family Assistance, who discussed the Swipe It Forward meal donation program, partnerships with East Bay Food Pantry, and eme...

Hope Pod Live's latest broadcast on WQRI 88.3 FM delivered a comprehensive look at social justice issues affecting Rhode Island and beyond. The show covered Rhode Island's passage of House Resolution 2025-H 6125, affirming LGBTQ+ rights amid national backlash, ongoing immigration enforcement protests from Portland to New York, where activists face federal crackdowns, and local stories including Pr...

Communities of Hope, a civic media organization at Roger Williams University, is developing an AI-powered chatbot to assist incarcerated youth and children in foster care systems. The tool, created by database team members Ashlyn Keating, Dennis Kinger, and Eric Tech, will provide access to counseling services, job opportunities, educational programs, and legal resources. The chatbot will be featu...