PBN December 23, 2022

HEALTH MATTERS

In many ways, these tattoos restore what’s lost to cancer | 8

Lotuff mastering art of the heirloom

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

AT A GLANCE, A LOTUFF LEATHER

bag isn’t obvious to someone unfamiliar with the brand. The company intentionally keeps the name off the exterior of most of its products, sometimes opting for a more subtle stamping on some of its smaller items.

FOCUS: HEALTH CARE

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the economy and, in many cases, our way of life.)

The idea is to instead create an heirloomquality product that prompts people who come across a Lotuff bag to ask who made it, says CEO Mary Lotuff Feeny.

“Our goal is to be classic, understated, a lifetime carry,” Lotuff Feeny said. “Something you’re not going to

Nonprofits overwhelmed by needs and no end in sight

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

NEARLY 15 YEARS OF WORKING AT POVERTY RELIEF nonprofit Amos House, Jessica Salter has seen the toll that food and housing insecurity has taken on some Rhode Islanders. But this year, even she acknowledges feeling more alarmed than usual.

“We’re in a situation now where we’re seeing housing issues combined with food costs creating a perfect storm for people who are financially vulnerable,” Salter said. Community need is “higher than we’ve seen it in decades.”

Amos House has added new services in response, including an emergency shelter in Pawtucket with a capacity for 30 families. Still, the nonprofit can’t keep up.

TAKING STOCK: Rhode Island Community Food Bank Chief Philanthropy Officer Lisa Roth Blackman says empty shelves are a common sight at the organization’s Providence warehouse because demand is so high lately.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

COVER STORY HELPERS HURTING

Nonprofits overwhelmed by needs and no end in sight 1 Meet the Makers: Lotuff mastering art of the heirloom 1

FOR STARTERS

Business Bestsellers 3 5Q: Dr. Philip Chan 4

Dining Out: Menus out of the blue 5

Spotlight: Kismet Improv 6

Something New: arc{hive} book + snackery 6

Hot Topic: Path to peace in offshore battle? 7

Health Matters: In many ways, these tattoos restore what’s lost to cancer 8 What’s Happening 9

IT’S PERSONAL

People in the News

Mackay’s Moral 22 Cyber Sessions: Jason Albuquerque 23 Guest Column: Patricia Raskin 24 Editorials and Opinion 25

One Last Thing: Kelley McShane 27

FOCUS: HEALTH CARE

Study to examine benefits of psychedelics in therapy

Brown University researchers will launch a study in February on the use of psychedelics in therapy to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorders. 16

How to cure primary care doc shortage?

Primary care physician burnout and retirements and fewer new doctors entering primary care specialties to replace them has left many patients unable to find a physician. 17

Lists

Urgent Care Centers

Energy Companies

CORRECTION: In the 2022 Diversity Equity & Inclusion Awards special section published on Dec. 9, Molly Crane’s title with Marcum LLP was misidentified. She is the company’s chief human resources officer. A story about Marstone Inc. in the same special section gave an incorrect date for the launch of the product Marstone Maps. It started in the summer of 2022.

Brown University

Community College of Rhode Island

Dorcas

We Share Hope 14

Women & Infants Hospital

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FOR STARTERS

BUSINESS BESTSELLERS

Adrift: America in 100 Charts

Scott Galloway

Galloway demonstrates how crises such as Jim Crow, World War II and the stock market crash of 2008, as well as the escalating power of technology, an entrenched white patriarchy and the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic, created today’s perfect storm.

Portfolio

ISBN: 9780593542408 | $35

If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women

Nikki R. Haley

Haley shares how her upbringing and being inspired by trailblazing women throughout history led to her becoming the first minority female governor in South Carolina and then as the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

St. Martin’s Press

ISBN: 9781250284976 | $26

The Book of Boundaries: Set the Limits That Will Set You Free

Melissa Urban

In her latest book, Urban shows you how boundaries are the key to better mental health, increased energy, improved productivity and more-fulfilling relationships.

The Dial Press

ISBN: 9780593448700 | $28

Like A Rolling Stone: A Memoir

Jann S. Wenner

Wenner, founder, co-editor and publisher of the music and pop culture magazine

Rolling Stone, offers the music, politics and lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond.

Little, Brown and Co.

ISBN: 9780316415194 | $35

Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

Chris Miller Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the U.S. became dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems.

Scribner

ISBN: 9781982172008 | $30

When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm

Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe

The authors have penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey & Co. and offer a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal, more corrupt and more dangerous.

Doubleday ISBN: 9780385546232 | $33

FOR STARTERS

5Q: Dr. Philip Chan

Consultant medical director, R.I. Department of Health

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

1Should we expect another COVID-19 surge this winter?

We may see an increase in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks and months. It is difficult to tell. The good news is that treatment and vaccine –booster doses, in particular – are greatly decreasing the severity of illness for many people who do get COVID-19.

2Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have seemingly been surging all over the country. Are we seeing more cases in Rhode Island too?

Yes, we are unfortunately seeing more RSV cases than usual in Rhode Island, and we are seeing them earlier than expected. Our typical peak for RSV happens in January. We are experiencing our peak now, and it’s roughly double what we see in a typical year.

3We are hearing a lot about a “triple-demic” of COVID-19, RSV and flu. Are these multiple simultaneous outbreaks stretching hospital resources?

The “triple-demic” is placing stress on an already strained health care system. We are working to support the hospitals. That includes looking at how we can get behavioral health patients treated in the most appropriate setting, doing everything we can to get new health care workers licensed as quickly as possible and launching a communications campaign to help Rhode Islanders know that not every health issue needs to be treated in the emergency department.

4How can people best prepare themselves and their children to face multiple threats at once, especially as they gather over the holidays?

People should take a few simple measures before the holidays and during the holidays to help themselves and their family members stay healthy and safe. Get your flu shot and COVID-19 booster; cough or sneeze into your elbow; wash your hands often with soap and water; clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces; stay home if you are sick; keep children home from day care or school who have a fever.

5The R.I. Department of Health has recently organized new vaccination clinics against mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. How much does mpox remain a threat?

Anyone can get [mpox], so people should be aware of the symptoms and how it spreads. Despite this, we have tended to see cases cluster in Rhode Island and nationally among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. This has guided many of our community engagement efforts, and it has guided our vaccination strategy. We have organized more than 30 community clinics, and several health centers in Rhode Island are vaccinating people. n

DINING OUT | BRUCE NEWBURY

Menus out of the blue

THIS IS A TALE of two menus.

In Portsmouth, the East Bay mainstay 15 Point Road rolled out a special version of its longtime favorite prix-fixe menu. The restaurant owned by Carly Smith and Sean Smith was catching up on lost time and completed a makeover of its upstairs dining room that had been postponed due to the pandemic.

As Sean Smith put it on my radio show, “We

can pick up any two of Neon’s Roman-style specialty pizzas topped with house-made sauce and Neon’s signature three-cheese blend for $15 at the Providence, Warwick, Seekonk and Freetown locations.

In addition to the pizzas, there is a burger menu featuring beef from the famed Pat LaFrieda, according to Elise Babey, senior manager of product development and supply chain. LaFrieda is the beef of record at places such as Shake Shack.

broadcast on radio stations in Vermont and Indiana.

SOMETHING NEW SPOTLIGHT

Bookstore building community

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

FOR URIAH DONNELLY, owning a bookstore had long been a dream. A background in the restaurant industry, which he shares with co-owner and wife Janet Moscarello, made adding a bar a natural extension.

Since June, the pair has run arc{hive} book + snackery, a used bookstore and bar that serves wine, beer, nonalcoholic beverages and light snacks at 4 Market St. in Warren.

Donnelly and Moscarello both share a love of literature, having graduated with English degrees from Rhode Island College. Donnelly always wanted to run a bookstore, but for years it remained just an idea.

Eventually, his perspective shifted.

“If there’s something you really want to do, you have to act, to go do it now,” he said.

So, the pair began collecting books from family and friends, and rummaging through library sales to build out the store.

Arc{hive} is building its own community, the pair says.

“For certain people like us, there’s something about walking into a bookstore, used or new,” Donnelly said. “There’s this automatic sense of mystery and nostalgia that I think is attached to it. That’s intriguing for me, that there may be something really cool hidden somewhere within these shelves.” n

Kismet finds its footing

Improv theater offers classes, performances

TAYLOR BRUNEAUX FOUND STABILITY and comfort in the most unscripted and seemingly unstable of places: improv comedy.

The social circle and affirming “yes and” principle upon which improv is built helped Bruneaux find her footing while overcoming the painful anxiety she was experiencing as a then-recent college graduate in Boston.

Fast forward a decade, and Bruneaux and her husband, Luke, are trying to share the transformative experience with others through their comedy theater, Kismet Improv

“Comedy is a byproduct of improv, but it’s really about being vulnerable, learning how to listen and react,” Luke Bruneaux said.

The comedy can’t be discounted either, particularly when it comes to bringing in audience members for weekend shows. Kismet, which opened in September 2021, had a rough start thanks to a third wave of the pandemic that put performers and audiences on edge. A few early shows drew two people, leaving a sea of empty chairs that made the small, brick-walled room in Hope Artiste Village feel massive, Taylor Bruneaux recalled.

Now in its second year, Kismet has hit its stride, with a series

OWNERS: Taylor and Luke Bruneaux

TYPE OF BUSINESS: Live comedy theater

of sold-out weekend shows and a 30-person roster of instructors and performers gracing the stage. A packed audience is a sure source of success for Taylor Bruneaux, not only for the money it brings in but for the reassurance that the hours she and her husband have poured into their passion are worth it.

Juggling owning a business with their own, full-time day jobs – Taylor Bruneaux works in marketing and Luke Bruneaux in data science, each for software companies in Boston – is a lot like an improv skit with constantly moving parts and quick thinking.

These are the skills they hope to share with others, and not just those aspiring to the stage. In fact, most of the students in the introductory classes have no interest in performing at all, though several have ended up doing it anyway. Instead, they come seeking social connec-

LOCATION: 1005 Main St., Pawtucket

EMPLOYEES: Seven

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

tions, or to improve their personal and professional communication, whether that be as a pediatrician (three of whom recently took a class) or a corporate executive.

Diversity of voices is central to Kismet’s mission, not just in the professional backgrounds or interests of students and performers but also their demographics. As longtime players and producers in the improv scenes in Chicago and Boston, Taylor and Luke Bruneaux were painfully aware of the lack of diversity among long-standing institutions.

To help break out of the white male mold that has dominated comedy theater, they don’t charge people of color who want to take the classes (typically $260 for an eightweek course).

Also, unlike the comedy theaters that the couple has worked with in the past, Kismet pays its performers, offering a cut of ticket sales to those who go on stage. This is why Kismet’s shows are $15 a ticket, rather than the $5 typical to other venues.

But Taylor Bruneaux promises it’s worth the extra money.

“This is high-quality improv,” she said.

In other words: “It’s funny, and makes you feel at ease.” n

YEAR FOUNDED: 2021

ANNUAL SALES: WND

PAYING IT FORWARD: After overcoming anxiety with the help of improv comedy, Taylor Bruneaux, left, and her husband, Luke, are trying to share that transformative experience with others through their Kismet Improv comedy theater in Pawtucket, which offers both live shows and classes.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

LOVE OF LITERATURE: Uriah

Donnelly, right, realized his dream of owning a bookstore when he and his wife, Janet Moscarello, left, opened arc{hive} book + snackery in Warren in June.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

HOT TOPIC

Path to peace in offshore battle?

BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

FISHERMEN AND OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPERS say a recent agreement over the installation of undersea cables for the 100-turbine Revolution Wind project marks a turning point in their long-contentious relationship, and they’re hoping it can serve as a model to settle future disputes as the offshore wind sector expands.

The agreement approved by state regulators creates a $3.5 million compensation package for Rhode Island fishermen for the effects the 23 miles of cables may have in the fishing grounds off the Rhode Island coast.

Still, some fishermen say there’s room for improvement, especially when it comes to how to calculate the dollars lost to their industry.

Conflicting calculations have stymied negotiations in past projects, including the South Fork Wind farm, which the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council approved in 2021 despite objections from fishermen.

Richard Hittinger, a member of the Fishermen’s Advisory Board – which represents commercial, recreational and charter fishermen – thinks the South Fork experience pushed coastal regulators to learn from those mistakes.

“My feeling, although I don’t know for a fact, is that the CRMC got such pushback with what happened for South Fork that they laid down the ground rules early on for Revolution Wind,” Hittinger said.

Marisa Desautel, an attorney who represented the Fishermen’s Advisory Board on both projects, says this round of discussions felt different.

Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy LLC are the joint developers on both

wind farms. But their attitude shifted this time, she says.

“They were more open to communicating about solutions instead of just saying, ‘No, this is how it’s going to be,’ ” Desautel said.

Representatives for Revolution Wind LLC did not respond to specific questions but in an emailed statement praised the consultants, CRMC staff and others for a “respectful and professional” dialogue.

How the burgeoning offshore wind industry will affect ocean species, habitats and fishing grounds is still largely unknown. Fishermen’s groups and developers rely on hired consultants to project potential damage.

With South Fork, experts disagreed on the basic financial calculations. But in Revolution Wind, they seemed to find consensus, Desautel says.

Hittinger agrees that the payout

this time was better, although not ideal.

One area that could be improved, Hittinger says, is calculating losses for recreational fishermen since there is no available federal data to use. In South Fork, there was no money set aside for this group.

The $3.5 million compensation package for Revolution Wind’s cables centers on commercial fishermen but also includes a $200,000 community fund to support recreational fishing.

Richard Fuka, a squid fisherman and president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, thinks the entire payout was too low. He didn’t believe fishermen were happy with it, either.

“No fisherman is going to say, ‘We’re completely satisfied,’ ” Fuka said. “The lawyers wear you down.”

Desautel declined to respond to Fuka’s comments, but she says she is hopeful that the tone and outcome of the latest negotiations would serve as a model for future discussions. The CRMC is expected to issue its decision on the project by February.

MATTERA, Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island executive director

“Hopefully, this is the new novel approach and will continue,” said Fred Mattera, executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island

The CRMC declined to comment. n

‘Hopefully, this is the new novel approach.’

FRED

In many ways, these tattoos restore what’s lost to cancer

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

the first year after her double mastectomy, all Debra Turilli could think about was how happy she was to be alive.

She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and a few months later underwent the six-hour procedure to remove her breasts. There was no space in her mind for anything other than relief. But as her life returned to normal, another thought took shape.

She wanted her breasts back.

“For me, this has nothing to do with vanity,” said Turilli, 69, who is a special-needs teacher in Cranston. “They didn’t look the same. That was what it was. I wanted it to look like I had breasts that looked like breasts.”

Turilli had breast reconstruction surgery, but that was not enough. It took another two years, but she got her wish in the summer of 2022 when she had her final session with medical tattoo artist Kristen Lanctot. One hour and $600 later, Turilli walked out of her studio with nipples.

“Unless you touch my breast, you have no idea it’s a tattoo,” she said.

Making people such as Turilli feel whole again is Lanctot’s passion. A surgical technician with over 20 years of experience working with breast cancer patients, Lanctot remembers seeing a woman with nipple tattoos for the first time. She was astonished.

“I was just so amazed that there was someone out there that did this job,” Lanctot said. “I was determined to be that person.”

The next few years were a whirlwind of research, training and endless practice. She attended the Sauler Institute of Tattooing outside Philadelphia in 2020 along with three other beginner artists and received a certificate in “3D Nipple and Areola Tattooing and Scar Camouflaging.” Lanctot went into the course with no artistic background, but by the end of the week she felt as if she had been tattooing nipples her whole life.

She did not stop there: after the course, she continued practicing every day, tattooing silicone skin piling up in her office. Then, toward the end of 2020, she received her tattoo artist license in Rhode Island and within a few months she was inking clients.

Now she tattoos patients from Mindful Aesthetics LLC, a North Smithfield health and beauty shop, while still working part time as a surgical technician at Women & Infants Hospital

“I am here with you on this journey from start to finish,” Lanctot said. “A lot of the women I’ve done, I’ve been with them at their mastectomy … I’ve been with them for their entire journey.”

Turilli heard about Lanctot’s work from the plastic surgeon that performed her reconstruction. At first, she was hesitant, fearing tattooing would be long and pain-

ful. Eventually, she met Lanctot for a consultation.

“It was all about me and what was making me comfortable,” Turilli said. “[Lanctot is] doing this for us, not for her.”

Her first session with clients, which usually takes up to two hours, includes a consultation on finding the right size and pigmentation for the tattoos, answering the clients’ questions, putting them at ease and eventually the actual tattooing. Often clients return for another session for follow-ups and touch-ups.

Since officially offering her service in May 2021, Lanctot has seen clients mostly from Rhode Island and some from Connecticut and Massachusetts. She says she usually works with three or four clients a week.

Lanctot has flat fees, with one tattoo costing $450 and two $600.

Most insurance companies either do not cover clients’ expenses or only partially cover them, Lanctot says, usually examining requests on a caseto-case basis.

“It is not easy,” Lanctot said. “It is another struggle that they have to go through that they shouldn’t have to go through.”

Last May, Lanctot became a contracted provider for Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, a collaboration started after a Neighborhood member requested her services be covered.

“Speaking to Kristen and thinking of the fact that breast cancer affects both men and women and that she’s able to offer services that help them with emotional and physical healing, I felt we needed to bring it on and offer it to our members,” said Julie Simone, a professional contract administrator at Neighborhood Health.

Now Neighborhood covers Lanctot’s services – either partially or entirely – across all of its plans.

In a little over a year, Lanctot has collected countless stories of connections she has made with clients.

There is the woman who started crying as she told Lanctot that her husband was leaving her. Lanctot knew that the client was not only there for the tattoo but to “let everything out.” And a couple of months later, the same client went on her first date, something she told Lanctot was only possible because of the confidence the tattoos helped give her.

Not all of Lanctot’s clients are breast cancer survivors: she works with transgender clients, people who have had breast reductions and those suffering from Poland syndrome, which can affect the appearance of breasts and nipples.

A transgender man told Lanctot his new tattoos helped him look at himself in the mirror for the first time.

For months after her tattoo appointment, Turilli was amazed. She recalls how she would walk around her house, suddenly stopping in front of a mirror and pulling up her shirt.

“Look at this,” she’d tell her husband and they’d laugh together.

“I never thought of it as the last piece of reconstruction, but it is,” Turilli said. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle.” n

‘It is another struggle that ... they shouldn’t have to go through.’

KRISTEN LANCTOT, medical tattoo artist

SMALL MASTERPIECES:

Medical tattoo artist Kristen Lanctot

plays a key role in helping people feel whole again after surviving breast cancer. She specializes in inking realistic nipples on reconstructed breasts.

PBN PHOTO/ ARTISTIC IMAGES

GOING INTO SESSION: R.I. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, D-Warwick, will be the guest speaker at the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Eggs & Issues Breakfast event on Jan. 12 at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln.

COURTESY R.I. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Shekarchi to speak at NRI Chamber event

THE NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND Chamber of Commerce will hold its monthly Eggs & Issues Breakfast event, hosted by Kirkbrae Country Club. The event will feature House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, D-Warwick, who will share his thoughts on the upcoming General Assembly session. There will be a Q&A opportunity at the end of the discussion.

THURSDAY, JAN. 12, 8:15-9:15 A.M. $30/members; $50/nonmembers Kirkbrae Country Club, 197 Old River Road, Lincoln.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3gDVHvJ

WHAT’S HAPPENING | FOR STARTERS

Building new relationships

THE TRI-TOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE will hold its networking group in a forum setting in which business owners and entrepreneurs can build business relationships with one another. Three one-hour group sessions will be held over three days.

FRIDAY, DEC. 23, 8-9 A.M., MONDAY, DEC. 26, AND TUESDAY, DEC. 27, 9-10 A.M. Free Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3VuBjvV

Becoming certified

THE CENTER FOR WOMEN & Enterprise will hold a webinar titled “Why & How to Certify Your Business as Women-Owned.” The webinar will offer attendees an opportunity to learn about the world of supplier diversity,

state and federal certifications, eligibility requirements, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council certification process.

TUESDAY, JAN. 3, 8 A.M. Free Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3gV2gdp

Veteran job fair

A VIRTUAL PROVIDENCE JOB FAIR offered by MilitaryX will allow veterans and their families an opportunity to interview with more than 40 companies for a potential career in various fields.

TUESDAY, JAN. 3, 11 A.M. TO 2 P.M. Free Online.

INFO AND REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3Fj4fSh

UPCOMING PBN EVENT:

Interested in having your business-related event included in What’s Happening? Contact PBN Researcher James Bessette at (401) 680-4838

The 2023 Book of Lists Premier Event will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, at The Graduate hotel in Providence. For more information, visit PBN.com. For sponsorship opportunities, contact

TOPICS

• With record inflation and interest rates is a recession on the horizon? And if so, how will RI fare?

• When will the Fed’s tightening of interest rates come to an end?

• Can and will consumer spending keep up with rising prices?

• What are the expectations for the labor market into 2023?

• Rising winter heating/energy costs: what are the underlying causes and short-long-term solutions?

• State spending of ARPA funding: How well is it directed toward boosting the economy? • Will COVID-19 continue to be a drag on the economy?

NONPROFIT

Volunteers come to MLK Center’s rescue

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

WHILE THE HOLIDAY SEASON is always a busy time for the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, this year the spike in activity goes back to August and has continued each month, Executive Director Heather Strout says.

Now that’s compounded by an intensified version of the typical holiday rush.

A well-used program that provides families with gift cards to buy Thanksgiving meals – which the center ran as a meal distribution program prior to the pandemic – saw more than a 21% increase in interest in people served in the days leading up to the holiday.

The shift from meal delivery to gift cards stems in part from this increased demand, Strout says.

“We just didn’t have the freezer capacity this year,” she said.

Demand for the MLK Community Center’s services is quickly outgrowing the size of its physical location in general. To keep up, the center is currently undergoing an expansion of its building, which will double the size of its food pantry and significantly increase storage space.

In November, the MLK Community Center was already seeing an increase in demand for its Christmas programming. The nonprofit’s “Santa’s Workshop” program, which allows families to choose from a selection of free gifts for their children, had more than 1,000 children registered more than a week before Christmas. In total, this program provided gifts for 916 children in 2021.

“We’re not even close to being done with those registrations,” Strout said. “We’re far ahead of where our registrations were last year, as far as numbers go.”

And while it’s hard to quantify the decrease, Strout says, the center takes another hit from its contributors’ financial stressors.

“We’re also seeing decreases in donations,” Strout said. “When the market’s good, donations are good,” she added, “and when the market’s bad, we definitely see it and feel it.”

While financial donations are down, a strong base of volunteers has helped to keep operations running. Volunteers logged more than 17,000 hours last year, and the MLK Community Center expects to

NEEDS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“As soon as we opened that shelter, it was filled,” Salter said. “And as soon as we’re able to move one family into permanent housing, there are 10 more families than we have space for that need housing.”

Amos House is far from the only organization that’s feeling the strain. Growing numbers of Rhode Islanders squeezed by the rising cost of eating, heating and housing are seeking the helping hand of community groups, which are feeling financial and staffing pressures of their own.

Nonprofits in all sectors are experiencing the struggle. According to a survey released by the United Way of Rhode Island Inc. in November, 60% of nearly 300 surveyed nonprofits report that community demand for programs and services is higher than it was before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, staffing levels remain bleak: about 55% of respondents said they have five or fewer paid staff members, and about one-quarter have no paid staff. And as inflation surges, more than 80% are facing increased expenses, and about the same percentage of nonprofits have less than three months of funding in their operating reserve.

While the holiday season typically inspires more donations, this year some nonprofit leaders are seeing dampened responses to fundraising efforts. The United Way survey said 27.3% of nonprofits have recorded fewer donations recently.

meet or exceed this annual figure by the end of the month.

“A lot of times, when people financially start to feel a pinch, they see it around them and want to help in a different way,” Strout said. n [Editor’s note: Three other nonprofit organizations are highlighted on Pages 12 and 14.]

In this environment, United Way is fielding thousands of calls monthly, many from people looking for assistance with necessities such as food and housing, says Idrees Lanre Ajakaiye, the organization’s chief development officer.

“Those are recurring costs, and I think about the nonprofits that help within that space, [and what would happen] if they couldn’t help,” Ajakaiye said.

At the same time, key sources of funding for nonprofits are drying up, observers say. On one front, national data shows that workplace giving is on a decline, Ajakaiye says, and Rhode Island already has one of the lowest rates of philanthropic giving in the nation. Research to pinpoint why is still underway.

At least for some groups, such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, corporate giving has slowed, too.

“We’re even seeing some people have to back off pledges, corporations that are unable to meet their obligations because they are just seeing economic crises within themselves,” said Executive Director Heather Strout.

On yet another front, many relief measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic are expiring after boosting community groups for nearly three years.

These developments have the nonprofit sector looking for solutions.

For instance, United Way of Rhode Island CEO Cortney Nicolato has proposed the state set aside $3 million for multiyear grants to support local nonprofits.

IDREES LANRE AJAKAIYE, United Way of Rhode Island Inc.

Neil D. Steinberg, CEO and president of the Rhode Island Foundation, says that unlike the private sector, a difficulty for nonprofits is they can’t cut back expenses and services in order to stay

‘If nonprofits aren’t stable, then we’re in a very precarious place.’

chief development officer

SETTING UP: Rachel Lawler, a volunteer at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, organizes toys for the organization’s “Santa’s Workshop” program, which allows families to choose from a selection of free gifts for their children.

PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

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Rush is on at Amos House earlier each month

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

AT AMOS HOUSE’S SOUP KITCHEN, need is typically lower at the beginning of the month, then ramps up as people’s public-assistance benefits run out. Now, the numbers have changed.

“Traditionally, the way that timing works in our soup kitchen is we are slowest at the beginning of the month,” said Jessica Salter, chief philanthropy officer at the poverty assistance agency. “What we’re seeing now is that the numbers we used to reach at the end of the month, we’re now seeing at the beginning of the month.

“Inflation is hitting hard, and [benefits] just aren’t going as far as they used to.”

That’s primarily due to inflation on groceries, combined with an affordable housing crisis and compounded by increased winter heating costs, she adds.

“Housing prices have gone up,” Salter said. “We’ve seen more rental units being sold, and rents increasing, and that just outprices people for the market. We’ve seen people of all ages who have lived in an apartment for decades have their rent increased suddenly and substantially. And suddenly they find themselves on the brink of crisis.”

The nonprofit is now distributing rental assistance not just for permanent housing but also for temporary measures such as hotel rooms, or in more dire situations gas money for people living in cars.

“Those are not good options for anyone,” Salter said. “But we’re in a crisis right now.”

As for what to expect in the future, Salter said that year-end figures generally provide a good benchmark for what donations will look like in the coming year.

With the organization distributing 100,000 pounds of food in the past year, and 135,000 meals prepared in the soup kitchen, Salter doesn’t expect the need will decline anytime soon. And with one-time COVID-19 relief funding running out or already gone for many organizations, she hopes to shift focus on the struggles still present in the community.

“There was a focus on need that was so clear at the heights of the

pandemic, and that tends to fade away as we all get back into what feels a little bit more like normal routines of life,” Salter said. “What we need to remember is that so many are still in a really tough situation, and it takes a community effort to address that need.” n

Offering warm welcome gets tougher

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

AS DORCAS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RHODE ISLAND INC. heads into the winter, the nonprofit doesn’t look at the upcoming stretch of time as the holiday season so much as the heating season, says Kathy Cloutier, the nonprofit’s executive director.

This heating season, with natural gas bills increasing an average of 10% as of November and electric rates up an average of $50 as of Oct. 1, will require more support.

Dorcas, which provides immigration support services, finds that for many clients, inflationary forces are compounded by what is often a lack of higherwage work available to them.

“From the perspective of the clients we serve –particularly from newly arrived refugees – the housing market has raised rents. And yet when folks arrive, they are generally getting fairly entry-level wages,” Cloutier said. “So the gap is growing.

“It’s not that people can’t find a job, but their job might not be covering all costs,” she added.

Additionally, many of Dorcas’ clients came to the U.S. from countries with warmer climates

– right now the organization is serving many from Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central American countries –making New England winters jarring, requiring the organization to address resources beyond heating.

“You need to be wearing more clothing, and even just getting to work and back in winter is generally more difficult than summer,” Cloutier said.

Donations have increased in the last year, Cloutier says, but even with continued generosity, heightened need means the organization must think about continuous growth in fundraising efforts.

And while financial support, as well as volunteerism, remains strong, filling needed staff positions remains a pressing issue.

“We always feel like we’re under-resourced,” Cloutier said. “We have been able to expand the number of staff due to fundraising, grants and resources, so that’s been positive across the organization, but we still have a significant number of vacant positions because hiring is so difficult.” n

REACHING OUT: LaSalle Academy students JJ Sanzi, left, and Cole Matthews volunteer by preparing meals at the Amos House food kitchen in Providence.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

HEAD OF THE CLASS: Teacher Luzleny Cutler, right, and student Lucienda Lapointe review English grammar lessons on a board at the front of a classroom at Dorcas International Institute in Providence recently.

PBN PHOTO/RUPERTY WHITELEY

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

afloat because demand is so great.

“The big word is ‘inflation,’ ” he said. “Everyone is dealing with inflation, and the nonprofits, in many cases, get hit twice.

“There are more people in need being impacted,” he added, “so you have organizations that not only need to be able to fund their operations – they need to bulk up their operations.”

The key is “not just to ask [prospective donors] for money,” Steinberg said, but “educating people about what the need is, and inspiring them that they can be part of the solution. That’s the secret of fundraising.

“We tell people, take care of your family first, support organizations you’ve always supported in the nonprofit sector, and if you have additional resources, come see the Rhode Island Foundation, and we’ll help you deploy where there’s the greatest need,” he said.

Hope in the form of food pantries at local schools

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

WHEN NONPROFIT LEADERS describe current conditions in their communities, the term “perfect storm” comes up.

One of the places where the storm is most visible is the We Share Hope food pantry and lowcost market, as described by the organization’s executive director, Johanna Corcoran.

“It’s pretty staggering,” Corcoran said of the need this year. “We’re used to seeing about 500 people a week. That [number] has gone up to about 850.”

The East Providence-based nonprofit tackles food insecurity through free pantries and Hope Market, a low-cost grocery store in the Rumford section of the city that runs on donations of excess food from grocery stores and funnels all proceeds back into the nonprofit’s relief efforts.

And while We Share Hope previously saw many returning clients among those served, “now we’re just meeting new faces every single day,” Corcoran said.

The nonprofit typically sees an uptick in community need around the holidays, but it’s “not as significant as this year, not as striking,” Corcoran said.

Inflation has led to an increase in the number of individual clients the nonprofit serves, as well as other nonprofit groups and community organizations that reach out to We Share Hope for additional resources.

That’s partially due to increased expenses in other areas of life, such as heating costs. Additionally, holiday breaks leave kids who depend on free school meals without their usual source for breakfast and lunch, which We Share Hope is responding to with food pantries set up at local high schools before these breaks. About 50 to 85 students have used that service on weeks when it’s offered, according to Corcoran.

“We start talking numbers and people’s eyes glaze over, but there’s a story behind every single one of those numbers,” Corcoran said.

They’re often disturbing stories: A recent customer at Hope Market was a mother who said she’d come from selling blood plasma in order to buy groceries for her family, Corcoran recalls.

Meeting the current need could be a challenge, Corcoran says, but she’s confident in the organization’s donors, and staff is reaching out to the business community for more contributions.

To keep up the staffing to meet this need, the organization has also experimented with new benefits to recruit and retain staff, Corcoran says, such as a now-permanently implemented four-day workweek with a rotating schedule that allows the organization to remain open five days a week.

“We try to take care of each other as much as possible so we can bring our best selves,” Corcoran said. n

NEIL D. STEINBERG, Rhode Island Foundation CEO and president

At the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s warehouse, “the food is flying out as quickly as it comes in,” said Lisa Roth Blackman, the nonprofit’s chief philanthropy officer. Empty shelves are a common sight.

Year over year, the food bank’s clientele has increased by about 10,000, Roth Blackman says, spiking from about 53,000 served on a monthly basis in late 2021 to 63,000 in the most recent data.

And to meet the needs of the food bank’s 140 partner agencies and the community at large, the food bank has needed to bump its food purchasing budget from approximately $1.5 million in 2019 to $6.5 million this year, Roth Blackman says.

Salter and Roth Blackman don’t expect these hardships to ease any time soon: winter and the holidays are often the busiest time of the year for nonprofits, as heating bills compound year-round expenses.

“And when nonprofits feel the crunch, so does every community they serve,” Ajakaiye said.

“They’re the backbone of our state,” he continued. “And when I say backbone, I mean essential services that help Rhode Islanders find stability. Especially in times of rising costs, like with gas prices, food … and if nonprofits aren’t stable, then we’re in a very precarious place.” n

‘Everyone is dealing with inflation, and the nonprofits, in many cases, get hit twice.’

SCHOOL DROP-OFF: Cliff Moniz, a driver/warehouse worker at the We Share Hope food pantry in East Providence, unloads donations for the Mount Pleasant High School food pantry in Providence.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

DELIVERING THE GOODS: Dustin Ford, left, community specialist in the Providence school system in charge of the Mount Pleasant High School food pantry, and John Nagbe, community outreach manager at We Share Hope, deliver donations to the high school’s recently opened food pantry, which provides students with food during holiday breaks, nights and weekends.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

LOTUFF

get sick of. Something you’re not going to wear out. Something that becomes a staple of your life.”

Though a relatively young company, co-founded in 2011 by Lotuff Feeny’s brothers, Joe and Rick Lotuff, the brand has established a name for itself in the designer leather goods market.

The company has earned this reputation through a process that merges manufacturing with artistry, Lotuff Feeny says. All products are cut by hand and go through a multifaceted design and production process in the company’s studio in the Valley section of Providence.

“Everyone in the studio has an artist’s eye,” Lotuff Feeny said. Every day, hundreds of decisions go into preparing and crafting the bags. Many of the company’s dozen or so employees have an art or design background – including studio manager Sarah Brenneman, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate.

One day in December, Brenneman was at a Lotuff workstation meticulously smoothing rough edges on products with layers of traditional Italian leather paint.

Elsewhere in the studio, workers were absorbed in other tasks, cutting around scarring and tick bites in hides, which appear as small, dark dots on the leather. One employee, Theresia Joseph, weaved thin leather strips into a braided handle on one bag – a process that can take up to six hours.

Each task involves specific skills, Lotuff Feeny says, and employees focus on depth of skill, rather than breadth. Most are trained in particular tasks and don’t learn to operate every machine.

From start to finish, a bag typically takes around three to eight weeks to make its way through all the stations before it’s finished, individually or within a batch, Lotuff Feeny says. In a pinch, workers can complete a bag in a day.

Most of the company’s sales are direct to consumers, though Lotuff products are available in several boutiques in the U.S. and Canada.

Some small accessories such as credit card wallets sell for $125 or $150, while prices on more complex products run into the thousands of dollars. The brand’s signature “Triumph” briefcase retails for $1,400.

The focus on craftsmanship has paid off.

Some customers have made a gifted Lotuff product into a family tradition, and the brand has gotten attention among the famous. Actor Rami Malek is a customer, and actress Selena Gomez’s character in the Hulu TV series “Only Murders in the Building” regularly carries a Lotuff bag.

TACTILE TASKS

To Lotuff Feeny, the handmade aspect of the bags is more than just a selling point.

She and her siblings “were taught to work with our hands by our parents,” Lotuff Feeny said. “We think it’s an important thing to be able to do.

“It’s a life skill that informs all other spaces inside your head and working with your hands sort of clears your head and builds your head,” she said, “and allows you to puzzle solve, allows you to be connecting tactile and nontactile thoughts inside you.”

Manufacturing and design have played a large part in Lotuff Feeny’s family history: her grandparents were clothing manufacturers, and her father made clothing for national brands in the 1970s. Lotuff Feeny’s parents later went on to produce women’s sportswear, and in the 1990s they founded Berkshire Blanket Co. in Ware, Mass.

When her parents sold the blanket company in 2006, Lotuff Feeny’s brothers decided they still wanted to produce American-made goods. Despite their textiles background, they became interested in leather goods and co-founded Lotuff in 2011, initially focusing on briefcases. Three years later, the company expanded to women’s handbags and accessories.

Initially, Lotuff Feeny set off on a different path.

After graduating from Roger Williams University School of Law, and working at her family’s blanket company, she changed course when she became president of the Vincent Club, a Boston nonprofit focused on women’s health and well-being.

When her term ended at the nonprofit, Lotuff Feeny’s brothers – who were stepping down from their executive roles but remaining involved with the company – asked her to join Lotuff Leather. Though Lotuff Feeny hadn’t previously worked with leather, she hoped to bring a fresh perspective to the business.

The task became more challenging than Lotuff Feeny imagined: shortly after she took over in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“Instead of imagining our future, we were imagining survival,” she said. “And in the process, we went into our survival skills.”

SURVIVAL MODE

When the crisis started in March 2020, Lotuff had to make do with just five workers in its studio due to social distancing requirements, compared with the more than 20 it would typically employ.

Leather sales sank and some of Lotuff’s remaining wholesale partners shuttered, so the company temporarily halted its normal production, focusing instead on manufacturing medical-grade masks and face shields for hospitals and individual consumers.

The company resumed production of leather goods in August 2020 and avoided later shortages of cow leather thanks to orders placed prior to the supply chain problems that rattled most industries in 2021. Shortages of other materials such as zippers had Lotuff scrambling, but the company was able to find a California manufacturer offering high-quality hardware.

Lotuff has bounced back to pre-pandemic sales levels in many areas, Lotuff Feeny says, with growth in certain styles, more repeat customers and increased corporate giving. Lotuff saw more than 20% sales growth during the first half of 2022. While sales figures in recent months have been stable, Lotuff Feeny acknowledges the uncertainties in the global economy have been challenging at times.

“There have been weeks that were way down, with the way the economy is around the world, and there are weeks that have been doubled,” Lotuff Feeny said. She declined to give annual sales figures but said the company surpasses $1 million yearly.

About six months ago, Lotuff also had to find a new location when the landlord of its original Providence studio, at 1 Sims Ave., wanted the space for another use. Lotuff moved its operations a short distance away to a building on Acorn Street.

The company is also still rebuilding its team. Four employees remain from before the pandemic, and the total headcount stands at about 12 to 15 full- and part-time employees on staff now.

Lotuff Feeny says she’s spent a lot of time training new employees recently, although she says she “was as much a learner as everyone else in this studio,” having joined the company in 2020.

“But for me, that’s the joy of this,” she continued. “It’s the learning and the applying of knowledge in general to a specific product. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the product is – it matters that you’re committed to the teamwork and the process and the techniques.” n

www.pbn.com

TIGHT WEAVE: Theresia Joseph works in the packaging and receiving department at Lotuff Leather, a handmade leather goods manufacturer in Providence that designs and sells bags, suitcases and other accessories.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

JOY OF LEARNING: Lotfuff Leather CEO Mary Lotuff Feeny said the joy of her role at the handmade leather goods manufacturer is “the learning and the applying of knowledge in general to a specific product.”

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

CARE

Study to examine benefits of psychedelics in therapy

BY CHRISTOPHER ALLEN | Allen@PBN.com

Christy Capone sees a lot of hope in psychedelic drugs that give users mindaltering experiences that can change moods and perceptions.

Capone, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University and a clinician at the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center, is part of a team of Brown researchers launching a study in February on the use of psychedelics in therapy to treat veterans with both post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorders.

The study will examine the effects of MDMA – which stands for methylenedioxy-methamphetamine but is more popularly known as ecstasy – on a group of military veterans under clinical supervision.

“There is a pretty solid evidence base that for MDMA-assisted therapy there is real and significant improvement and lasting change, which is something we don’t see very often,” she said, pointing to one study published by the British Journal of Psychiatry that found 85% of participants with treatment-resistant PTSD no longer had a diagnosis after three sessions.

Indeed, a growing body of research is indicating the effectiveness of psychedelics, administered in the proper

clinical settings, for the treatment of psychological ailments such as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and chemical dependency.

Dr. Erica Eaton, a clinical psychologist at the Providence VA and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Brown University, is joining Capone and Dr. Carolina Haass-Koffler, associate professor of behavioral and social sciences and psychiatry and human behavior at Brown, to look at the “safety, feasibility and acceptability” of MDMA-assisted therapy.

Eaton says the study will further explore the integration of the drug, which results in elevated levels of empathy and compassion and allows patients to explore their trauma without re-injury.

“It also enhances the relationship between the therapist and the participant, allowing a rapport to develop more quickly,” she said.

The first-of-its-kind study will recruit 12 participants who first will be screened. They will then undergo eight-hour sessions in which they will receive MDMA dosages, followed by “integration sessions” in which patients are encouraged to explore their psychedelic experience and any breakthroughs that take place.

GUIDED TRIPS:

Dr. Christy Capone, left, and Dr. Erica Eaton, are among the Brown University researchers who will be studying the use of psychedelics during the therapy sessions with military veterans who have mental health issues.

Eaton and Capone say there is still much to learn about why MDMA has proven so useful. One theory is that the drug reduces stress by releasing naturally occurring chemicals serotonin and dopamine and increasing levels of oxytocin, a hormone that supports feelings of trust and bonding. This allows patients to process past trauma more successfully. Posttherapy imaging of the brain shows decreases in inflammation.

“People feel more connected to other people and less defensive,” Capone said. “It facilitates positive emotions so that it is less scary to visit those memories and experiences in the context of a supportive therapy environment.”

State Rep. Brandon Potter, DCranston, speaks openly about his experience with psilocybin, a natural hallucinogenic found in certain mushrooms, that had a profound and “unexpected” therapeutic effect for him when he used it recreationally.

“That was the therapy I never knew I needed,” he said. “I did not necessarily go into it with that intention, but it was tremendously powerful. And it made me resolve a lot of things inside of myself that I didn’t realize were going on.”

Last March, Potter was the primary sponsor of legislation that would have legalized psilocybin for therapeutic and recreational purposes. The legislation died in the House Judiciary Committee.

“I wanted to open a dialogue and get it into play and make people aware of it,” he said. “The [clinical] data is overwhelming. People are seeing massive benefits, especially veterans and people with PTSD. There is no reason we should let these old taboos persist.”

Potter plans to resubmit legislation in the upcoming session, this time with more detail on regulation, cultivation and distribution.

“Anything you can do to put people in a better frame of mind to help them get over whatever internal struggles they are having, I am in favor of,” he said.

For now, patients in Rhode Island searching for alternative therapies are limited to participation in research trials. But Capone and Eaton say they expect the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve MDMA-assisted therapy next year.

The inclusion of psilocybin and MDMA in psychotherapy is supported by Dr. Sarit Lesser.

In her private practice at Dyad Psychology LLC in Providence, part of Lesser’s treatment options include psychedelic somatic psychotherapy with ketamine and cannabis to help patients overcome traumatic events.

Where traditional medications such as antidepressants are “aimed at addressing the symptoms,” she said, psychedelics are “addressing the core issue.”

“Psychedelics are very well tolerated, safe and can have a faster effect, sometimes with only a single therapy session,” Lesser said. “Federal regulators cannot avoid looking at the results when things are done properly.” n

PBN PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

‘People feel more connected to other people and less defensive.’

DR. CHRISTY CAPONE, Brown University assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior and Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center clinician

How to cure primary care doc shortage?

BY CLAUDIA CHIAPPA | Chiappa@PBN.com

WHEN THE PHONE RINGS at East Providence Primary Care, chances are there is someone in search of a new doctor on the other end.

It happens up to 15 times a day, but the response is the same: “I’m sorry, we’re not taking new patients right now. Call back in six months.”

It’s become a routine in recent months since the practice reached full capacity. Only one of the six primary care physicians at the Brown Medicine practice is still accepting new patients but with a long wait time of up to eight months. And for those being turned away, it’s just as unlikely that they have any luck with another practice for months –possibly years.

“The world of primary care is in the midst of a big change,” said Dr. Thomas Bledsoe, a general internist and primary care physician at East Providence Primary Care. “[In the past] it seemed like there were always other options for people, but lately it seems to be approaching a crisis.”

Bledsoe, who also serves as president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, says his practice has gone through periods at full capacity before, but in recent years things have gotten worse. Health care professionals say the crisis has been created by experienced primary care doctors leaving medicine while fewer new doctors are entering primary care specialties nationwide.

In Rhode Island, approximately 72% of primary care needs are being met, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation using data from the U.S. Department of Health &

Human Services. The number is better than the national average of 47%.

It is estimated that the United States could see a shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034, according to a 2021 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“It’s a complex problem without a simple cause or solution,” said Dr. Rebekah Gardner, associate professor of medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. “Many practices in the state are closed to taking new patients because the doctors in those practices are overwhelmed caring for the patients they already have.”

Gardner says burnout is often at the top of the list of reasons driving doctors from the field, something that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2018 study led by Gardner found that the increasing use of electronic health records caused higher stress for primary care doctors in particular because it increased the amount of time they spend working on patient files outside of their normal hours, creating what Gardner called a “tsunami of work.”

It’s not just burnout. Primary care is an aging field and recruitment of new doctors has been difficult with other specialties proving more lucrative. Retirements can leave gaps in existing practices that can go unfilled for years. At East Providence Primary Care, Bledsoe says the practice could easily double its size.

And it’s expected that demand for generalists will continue to rise as the population of older people in Rhode Island and across the country continues to grow.

“The real issue is: How do we get folks to choose primary care as a field?” Gardner said.

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DR. THOMAS BLEDSOE, Brown Medicine physician and Rhode Island Medical Society president

One of the main obstacles to recruiting new physicians is Rhode Island’s low Medicaid reimbursement rate for primary care, according to health care observers. Compared with the national average and its neighboring states, Rhode Island’s low reimbursement rates can discourage recent medical school graduates –typically carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt

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‘The world of primary care is in the midst of a big change.’

– from choosing to enter primary care or driving them to practice outside of the state.

“In general, there is projected to be a decreasing amount of people going into primary care from medical schools,” said Dr. Peter Hollmann, chief medical officer of Brown Medicine. “One of the things is to make sure the education paints a positive picture about people that are generalists.”

How? Creating more opportunities in medical school to expose students to generalists and show them what being a primary care physician is like, Hollmann says. Financial incentives such as loan forgiveness programs are another solution, Gardner says.

The shortage is creating a ripple effect.

Without a primary care doctor to visit for an initial appointment, many people have been forced to turn to urgent care centers and emergency rooms, which have been experiencing overcrowding and longer-than-usual waiting times. Sometimes, patients turn to specialists when specialized care is not needed.

Many times, the lack of a doctor leads people to ignore health problems or delay care as their conditions worsen.

“There’s been a backlog. Many people defer care,” said Corey McCarty, senior vice president and general manager of CCA Health Rhode Island in Woonsocket, an arm of the social service agency Commonwealth Care Alliance “That deferred care creates greater risks for things to have progressed to the point where people need more attention.”

Looking toward the future of primary care, Hollmann says he does not think the quality of care is at risk, but the shortage of physicians is here to stay. The key, he says, is getting used to a reality where primary care is performed by a team of both physicians and nonphysicians, such as nurse practitioners.

“It’s not practical to think that you’re going to have all primary care done by physicians,” Hollman said. “You’re going to see a greater use of the team caring for people rather than just physicians.” n

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RARE BREED: Dr. Thomas Bledsoe, a general internist and primary care physician at Brown Medicine’s East Providence Primary Care, says finding a primary care doctor such as him has become difficult for people in need of a new physician. Bledsoe is also president of the Rhode Island Medical Society.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

2021:

2021: 3 Eversource Energy | eversource.com JosephR.Nolan 50 Duchaine Blvd. New Bedford, Mass.02745 (800)592-2000

2021:

Newport Renewables | nptre.com MichaelCabralandStuartFlanagan, principals

2021: 5

Isaksen Solar | isaksensolar.com BradCamielandRyanRego, co-founders

2021: 6

2021: 7

2000 Chapel View Blvd., Suite 500 Cranston, R.I.02920-3040 (401)295-4998 85

Design, siting, financing, construction, and ongoing management of solar power, battery storage, solar canopies/ carports and wind turbines

CLOSER LOOK

Total number of employees: 1,521

LIST RESEARCHED BY James Bessette

NEED A COPY?

To purchase a copy of this list, call (401) 273-2201 or visit PBN.com/lists for more information.

2009

316 Columbia St. South Kingstown, R.I.02879 (401)619-5906 50 Clean energy engineering and construction 2010

18 Pocasset St. Fall River, Mass.02721 (508)567-0647 25

Solar panel installation for residences and businesses in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts 2017

UPCOMING LISTS Jan. 6: Business & Professional Associations, Rhode Island Coworking Spaces; Jan. 20: Business Development Resources, High-tech Funding Resources, Rhode Island Distilleries, Breweries & Vineyards.

WANT TO JOIN? For more information about participating in PBN’s Top Lists, or to make additions or corrections, call (401) 680-4838 or write to Research@PBN.com.

FOOTNOTES

Energy Development Partners | edp-energy.com

FrankA.Epps, CEO and principal;JohnSchroeder, chief operating officer;MaartenReidel, principal and managing member;MicheleRedaelli, vice president, commerical

First Point PowerLLC | firstpointpower.com

PeterSchieffelin, CEO

2021: 8

2021: 11

ArcturaInc. 2 | arcturawind.com NealFine, founder and CEO

260 West Exchange St., Suite 102A Providence, R.I.02903 (401)349-1229 12

Renewable energy project development; active throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, Spain and Mexico 2013 6

2000 Chapel View Blvd., Suite 450 Cranston, R.I.02920 (401)684-1443 12

336 Columbia St. South Kingstown, R.I.02879 (401)595-7379 6

2021: 10 E2SOLLLC | e2sol.com AnthonyBaro, managing principal 10 Dorrance St., Suite 700 Providence, R.I.02903 (401)489-2273

R.I.02886

Retail commercial supplier providing electricity 2009

j Formerly National Grid Rhode Island. National Grid on May 25 announced the sale of Narragansett Electric Co. to PPL Rhode Island Holdings LLC for $3.8 billion, and rebranded as Rhode Island Energy.

 Aquanis Inc. rebranded as Arctura Inc. in October 2020.

Develops technologies and products that reduce the cost of wind energy 2016

Renewable energy design and build developments, electric transportation infrastructure design and build 2010

CCRI honors Sergio Sousa

SOUSA,

vice president of

What does receiving this honor from CCRI mean to you? It means the world to me, and I am humbled and honored to receive such an honor. I made the decision to go to college right after my oldest daughter was born. I was a young parent, in the infant stages of my career, and CCRI provided me with the opportunity to receive a quality education without the expense associated with many of the other area institutions. I chose to go to college to not only better myself but to be an example for my now three children. My hope is they follow a similar path and one day aspire to attend an institution of higher learning.

What opportunities did CCRI provide to you to help you with your career?

I truly believe my time at CCRI laid the groundwork for many of the positive opportunities I have experienced throughout my career. There are certain doors that probably would not have opened if not for the valuable years spent on the Flanagan Campus. One experience in particular stands out that I will never forget from a finance professor. He asked the class a question and I remember my response had generated a laugh in the classroom. The professor replied to my response by saying, “Because of your approach, you will have opportunities in life, and I am sure you will find individual success.” This was the first time in my life that I felt I could make a difference.

What attracted you to wanting to work with Lincoln Park, now Bally’s, after college?

Immediately after high school, I had done some modeling work. That work entailed several different things, but one area of it that piqued my interest was doing promotional-type work for different products or services. This experience helped me realize that I had an affinity for dealing with the public. A few of my friends were working at Lincoln Park in the late 1990s and asked if I would consider employment there. Lincoln Park/Twin River/ Bally’s has always provided me with an opportunity to challenge myself and helped me grow both personally and professionally.

Where do you envision yourself in five years’ time careerwise?

I plan to continue to take the approach that has gotten me to where I am today. That is to work hard, one day at a time and continue to develop my skill set so I can put myself in a position to not be restricted by limitations. One of the most gratifying parts of my job is to help coach and mentor members of my team. I am at a point in my career where I truly take pride in watching individuals succeed under my tutelage. My goal is to positively impact each individual that I interact with each and every day, and my hope is that I can provide some of the same opportunities that were afforded to me. n

ARCHITECTURE

DBVW Architects is happy to announce Benno Belhumeur’s return to DBVW as a Project Manager, where he brings decades of architectural and construction management experience to the firm. His 30 years of experience has included residential and commercial preservation, affordable housing, and new construction. Benno recently worked on the 15-story Edge College Hill multi-family residential project in Providence, RI; the Hopedene mansion in Newport, RI; and the restoration of the Brighton Municipal Courthouse in Boston, MA.

SERGIO

regional

marketing for Bally’s Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort and Bally’s Tiverton Casino & Hotel, was recently inducted into the Community College of Rhode Island’s Society of Knights and Squires as part of the CCRI Foundation and Alumni Association’s 2022 Outstanding Alumni Awards.

“WHEN I WAS A YOUNG MAN, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town, and, as an older man, I tried to change my family.

“Now, as an old man, I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation, and I could indeed have changed the world.”

These comments, commonly attributed to an unknown monk in the year 1100, illustrate the power of vision.

A vision is the mental picture of what you desire. Clear goals are essential, but having a vision is more than just achieving goals. You must have inspiration, motivation and a believein-yourself mentality.

I learned long ago that projecting oneself into a successful situation is one of the most powerful means of attaining personal goals. Vision doesn’t do the planning and it doesn’t anticipate the obstacles. It gives a real idea of what is possible, if only you want it bad enough.

power of vision

Author J. Oswald Sanders said: “Eyes that look are common. Eyes that see are rare.”

Here are some of the facets of a successful vision:

n Realism: The first thing is to make sure that your vision is doable. Many people have visions that are not attainable. You need to have a clear picture of what you want.

n Desire: The will is as important as the skill. I’ve always said that you can accomplish almost anything if you put your mind to it.

n Motivation: I think one of the best motivators is the one that comes from within, the voice inside you. Motivation is the spark that ignites success.

n Focus: How many times have you heard an athlete talk about focus? It’s a topic I also hear about frequently in business. The most common complaints: Too many projects spinning at one time. Too many interruptions. Too many things to do. Too little time. Decide what is most important.

Stay focused as best you can, and don’t let things happen to you – not when you can make things happen.

n Confidence: Confidence doesn’t come naturally to most people. Even the most successful people have struggled with it in their careers. The good news is that you can develop confidence, just like any muscle or character trait, if you’re willing to work hard and achieve some success.

n Flexibility: No matter how good your ideas are or how committed you are to your vision, remember that things change. Be ready to modify your plans so you can take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

At age 40, Thomas Watson Sr. became general manager of a little firm that manufactured meat slicers, time clocks and simple tabulators. However, he had a vision for a machine that could process and store information long before computers were a reality. To match his lofty vision,

Watson soon renamed his company International Business Machines Corp. Late in life, he was asked when he envisioned IBM becoming so successful. His reply was simply, “At the beginning.”

In the early 1970s, Fred Smith described his vision for an overnight nationwide air express delivery system in a term paper for his economics class at Yale University, for which the professor is said to have awarded him a C. Today, Federal Express delivers freight and packages in more than 220 countries across six continents.

Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian Disney, attended the opening of Disney World in Florida, five years after Walt Disney’s death in 1966. An interviewer said to her, “I wish Dr. Disney had lived to see it.”

Mrs. Disney replied, “He did.”

Mackay’s Moral: A vision without a task is a dream. A task without a vision is drudgery. But the two together are the hope of the world. n

Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com.

(Editor’s note: This is the fifth installment of a monthly column on the growing number of cyberthreats facing businesses of all sizes and what they can do about it. A version of this column was first published on PBN. com on Dec. 14.)

WITH THE HOLIDAY SEASON upon us, I find myself spending nights on the couch wrapped in blankets, with my family in front of the fire watching classic holiday movies. I always seem to land on “A Christmas Story.” One of my favorite scenes is when Ralphie is sitting at the kitchen table and he begins to daydream about saving his family from that dreaded criminal Black Bart. The bad guys in their masks and black- and whitestriped shirts begin to infiltrate the Parkers’ yard. The family is hiding under the table and Mom yells, “Save us, Ralphie, I just knew those bad guys would be coming for us in the end!”

Much like Black Bart and his gang of robbers, during this time of year cybercriminals significantly ramp up their efforts. While a constant focus to protect your organization from cyber-risk is necessary, during the holidays it is especially important to

stay attentive.

Every year, law enforcement agencies issue warnings about rising attacks this time of year. There was a 30% reported increase last year in ransomware attacks during the holiday period. We also saw a 70% increase in attempted ransomware attacks. This is not new. Every year, we see a significant spike in cybercrime. As we know, cybercriminals are opportunistic. Why wouldn’t they want to take advantage of our employees during the time of year when they are the most distracted?

This is also a time that we find staff using corporate systems more often than normal for personal use. The fast-paced nature of the holidays, and folks rushing to get the latest deals or last-minute gifts online presents a tremendous amount of risk to your organization and opportunity for those cybercriminals. According to the 2022 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report, 1 in 3 American adults admit to taking more risks

season compared with other times of the year.

Small-business owners must be more alert to cybercrime activity than ever. Accenture reported that 43% of online attacks target small and midsized businesses. With that, only 14% felt prepared to defend against cyberattacks. This is staggering news since the National Cybersecurity Alliance states that about 60% of small businesses close within six months of a cyberattack.

By instituting basic measures and best practices, we can significantly reduce our risks from the holiday season cyberthreats.

First and foremost, employee awareness is crucial. Remind staff to keep security best practices in mind. Continuously reinforce the good habits of how to handle suspicious links, to never download attachments from unknown senders and to always stay clear of suspicious websites, calls and text messages. Denying cybercriminals their most-often-used attacks is

We live in a time when passwords alone are not sufficient protection. If your business has not embraced and mandated multifactor authentication for all of your users, you must change that immediately. MFA significantly decreases your risk. As modern businesses, we must assume first that unknown activity is nefarious. Never implicitly trust and always verify the legitimacy of requests and unusual activity.

These basic precautions, along with the best practices that we discuss here each month in Cyber Sessions, can be the difference between a successful defense or a breach.

Much like Black Bart said as he was foiled and running away, “OK Ralphie, you win this time, but we’ll be back,” cybercriminals are on the constant attack.

Our preparedness, focus and ability to respond are what will allow us to be more resilient to these threats.

Next month: What to plan for in 2023. n

IT’S TRUE THAT COVID-19 has fundamentally changed our lives and workplaces in the past 2½ years and the percentage of older people remaining at a job has grown. Population aging is one of the driving factors of the aging of the U.S. workforce.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of workers aged 65 or older has grown by 117% in the last 20 years, while employment of individuals 75 years or older has also increased by 117%.

Rhode Island is no different. The Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data provided by the Census Bureau indicates several specific growth areas in Rhode Island in the 55-and-over age group.

In 2000, workers employed in the private sector in the age group over 55 represented 13.2% of the Rhode Island population. By 2020, this group represented 25.9% of the population – a jump of 12.7 percentage points, according to the Census Bureau.

Looking further into the data, 17.1% of the manufacturing workforce in Rhode Island was over 55 at the start of this century. Twenty years later, that number doubled to 34.7%. And in the financial and insurance sectors, workers over 55 made up 11%

GUEST COLUMN | PATRICIA RASKIN

Extending our prime time

of the workforce in 2000. It increased to 25.3% over the next 20 years.

Similar jumps were reported in other sectors. In 2000, people 55 and older made up 12.8% of the health care and social assistance workforce and 16.2% of the education workforce. Over the next two decades, those numbers increased to 26.7% and 29.1%, respectively.

The types of jobs that had higher numbers of older people included teachers, college instructors, administrative assistants, nurses, managers, management consultants, financial services providers and writers. Since many of these jobs required the adaption to high-tech devices over the years, I think this destroys the myth that older adults struggle to learn how to use new technologies.

I also think that there is an assumption that we will all retire at a certain age. But this is changing. It has been shown that the longer our brains and

bodies stay active, the more productive and vital we will be.

I recently talked to a colleague who told me that a family member in his 80s stopped working suddenly without a transition into retirement. Within a year, his energy, abilities and attitude had dramatically declined.

From my work as an interviewer, talking with experts in the field of aging and longevity and my own experience as an early baby boomer, here are five recommendations to maintain productivity and creativity in business past our retirement years.

Put self-care in the forefront. In order to make good decisions, we need to feel good.

Our health is our “bank account,” and we need to safeguard it even more in our older adult years with exercise, good nutrition, enough sleep and a great support system.

Time is your most precious choice. We have less time chronologically as

To make good decisions

we need to feel good.

we get older, but we often have greater choices about how we spend our time. Honor and use your wisdom and work experience. We have had years to learn from our mistakes and gain skills and knowledge over time. Don’t underestimate that.

Seek creative work platforms. COVID-19 has expanded venues for workers and older workers. Remote work is no longer a novelty. It has often become the norm. You can reduce travel expenses by working part time, flex time or doing remote work and contract work.

Collaborate with those of different ages. Different generations have so much to offer each other. I work with communications interns from the University of Rhode Island, and I learn so much from them, especially in the world of social media. They learn from my business experience. It’s a rich collaboration. n

,

Patricia Raskin is an award-winning radio producer and owner of Raskin Resources Productions. She hosts and co-produced the 13-part Positive Aging Podcast series co-produced by Rhode Island PBS. She was a recipient of a Providence Business News Leaders & Achievers Award in 2020.

RFP

Kingston Hill Academy Request for Proposal (RFP) –Health and Safety Improvements

Kingston Hill Academy, a K-5 public charter school, requests proposals/bids for health and safety improvements at its existing facility. All interested bidders must register on the Kingston Hill’s website; http://kingstonhill.org/.

Electronic versions of bidding documents (drawings and specifications) are available on the Kingston Hill Website.

General proposals/bids shall be received at Kingston Hill Academy, 850 Stony Fort Road, Saunderstown, RI, no later than Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at 3:00 PM. Refer to the RFP for additional information and requirements.

A Pre-Bid Walk-thru, Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 3:30 PM at the Kingston Hill Academy, 850 Stony Fort Road, Saunderstown, RI 02874. Attendance is strongly recommended. Contact RGB Architects Ashley Carrig (acarrig@rgb.net) for questions regarding this RFP.

Nonprofit sector overlooked key to a healthy economy

Selfless nonprofits are often the difference between needy Rhode Islanders going without during the holidays and managing to provide enough food and a few gifts to their children. It’s a heartbreaking cycle of poverty and dependence that these real-life Santa’s helpers always struggle to keep up with.

But this year, warning signs are everywhere in the Ocean State that they are beginning to buckle under the inflation-induced strain of ever-growing demand and shrinking financial support.

As this week’s cover story reports, demand for programs and services is higher than it was before the pandemic for many nonprofits, while staffing and donations are down as expenses keep rising.

“If nonprofits aren’t stable, then we’re in a very precarious place,” warned Idrees Lanre Ajakaiye, the United Way of Rhode Island Inc.’s chief development officer.

It’s a message Rhode Island state leaders need to heed in the new year before the nonprofit safety net we all rely on collapses.

More state funding for multiyear nonprofit grants to supplement community donations would help. State lawmakers had the benefit of a massive budget surplus this fiscal year and are projected to have another $400 million in extra revenue to work with next year.

But don’t just dole out blank checks until the money runs out. Target some of that surplus for programs and training to help professionalize nonprofit fundraising and management and boost wages to better attract workers willing to stay in the fight.

Nonprofits may not drive the state economy, but it can’t grow without them. n

Don’t blame pandemic for bad schools

Three years into a state takeover of the Providence public school system, the results are both disheartening and alarming.

A new state report found that 31 of the district’s 40 schools have a two-star rating or lower, on a scale of one to five stars. That’s shocking.

Only six of the schools saw their ratings improve from 2019. A whopping 34 schools in the city have a chronic student absentee rate of more than 40%.

The pandemic can certainly be blamed for slowing reform efforts. But schools everywhere have dealt with similar challenges with far better results.

The pandemic didn’t stop Gov. Daniel J. McKee and the teachers union from agreeing to a new three-year contract last year with $3,000 bonus payments and raises for teachers.

State and city leaders, educators and parents all need to take their share of the blame for this failing school system.

Measurable improvements must be demanded, rather than hoped for. Anyone not on board needs to move on. n

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Social media regulation is no easy feat

THEODORE J. KURY GUEST COLUMN

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his controversial decisions as its owner have fueled a new wave of calls for regulating social media companies. Elected officials and policy scholars have argued for years that companies such as Twitter Inc. and Facebook – now Meta Platforms Inc. – have immense power over public discussions and can use that power to elevate some views and suppress others.

I wonder what that regulation would look like. There are many regulatory models in use around the world, but few seem to fit the realities of social media.

The central ideas behind economic regulation – safe, reliable service at fair and reasonable rates – have been around for centuries. The U.S. has a rich history of regulation.

The first federal economic regulator in the U.S. was the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. This law required railroads to operate safely and fairly and to charge reasonable rates for service.

The law reflected concerns that railroads were monopolies that could behave in any manner they chose and charge any price they wanted. This power threatened people who relied on rail service.

Individual social media companies don’t

really fit this traditional mold of economic regulation.

While Internet access is becoming an essential service, it’s debatable whether social media platforms are essential. And companies such as Facebook and Twitter aren’t monopolies and don’t directly charge people. So the traditional focus of economic regulation – fear of exorbitant rates – doesn’t apply.

A more relevant model might be the regulation of the electricity grid and pipelines. These industries fall under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state utility regulators. Like these networks, social media carries a commodity, and the public’s primary concern is that social media companies should do it safely and fairly.

In this context, regulation means establishing safety and equity standards. If a company violates those standards, it faces fines. But it would be complicated.

First, establishing these standards requires a careful definition of the regulated company’s roles and responsibilities. Since social media companies continuously adapt to the needs and wants of their users, establishing roles and responsibilities could prove challenging.

Texas attempted to do this in 2021 with a law that barred social media companies from banning users based on their political views.

Regulators would likely be assessing a moving target

.

Social media trade groups sued, arguing that the measure infringed upon their members’ First Amendment rights. A federal appellate

court blocked the law, and the case is likely headed to the Supreme Court.

Laws often inhibit agencies from energetically policing target industries.

For example, the Office of Enforcement at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is concerned with the safety and security of U.S. energy markets. But under a 2005 law, the office can’t levy civil penalties higher than $1 million per day. In comparison, the cost to customers of the California power crisis of 2000-2001, fueled partially by energy market manipulation, has been estimated at approximately $40 billion. Clearly, the prospect of a fine from the regulator is not a sufficient deterrent in every instance.

If a new law withstands legal challenges, a regulatory agency such as the Federal Communications Commission or the Federal Trade Commission, or perhaps a newly created agency, would have to write regulations establishing social media companies’ roles and responsibilities and creating enforcement mechanisms. In doing so, regulators would need to be mindful that changes in social preferences and tastes could render these roles moot.

We can assume that social media companies would evolve quickly, so regulators would likely be assessing a moving target. As I see it, even if bipartisan support develops for regulating social media, it will be easier said than done. n

Theodore J. Kury is the director of energy studies at the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center. Distributed by The Associated Press.

Food waste in U.S. is hurting our wallets and climate

BRIAN E. ROE GUEST COLUMN

You see it at most holiday feasts: piles of unwanted food. With luck, hungry relatives will discover some of it before the inevitable green mold renders it inedible.

U.S. consumers waste a lot of food yearround – about one-third of all purchased food. That’s equivalent to 1,250 calories per person per day, or $1,500 worth of groceries for a four-person household each year. And when food goes bad, the land, labor, water, chemicals and energy that went into producing, processing, transporting, storing and preparing it are wasted too.

Where does all that unwanted food go? Food waste occupies almost 25% of landfill space nationwide. Once buried, it breaks down, generating methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Recognizing those impacts, the U.S. government has set a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030.

Reducing wasted food could protect natural resources, save consumers money, reduce hunger and slow climate change. But there’s no ready elegant solution. Developing meaningful interventions requires burrowing into the systems that make reducing food waste such a challenge for consumers, and understanding how both physical and human factors drive this problem

To avoid being wasted, food must avert a gauntlet of possible missteps as it moves from soil to stomach. Baruch College marketing expert Lauren Block and her colleagues call this pathway the squander

sequence. Failure of even a small component in the multistage sequence of transforming raw materials into human nutrition leads to failure of the entire task.

Massachussetts Institute of Technology economist Michael Kremer has shown that when corporations of many types are confronted with such sequential tasks, they put their highest-skilled staff at the final stages of production. Otherwise, the companies risk losing all the value they have added to their raw materials through the production sequence.

Who performs the final stages of production in today’s modern food system? That would be us: multitasking, money- and timeconstrained consumers.

Out of everyone employed across the fragmented U.S. food system, consumers may have the least professional training in handling food. Adding to the mayhem, firms may not always want to help consumers get the most out of food purchases.

What options exist for reducing food waste in the kitchen? Here are several approaches.

Build consumer skills. This could start with students, perhaps through reinvesting in family and consumer science courses. Or schools could insert food-related modules into existing classes. Biology students could learn why mold forms, and math students could calculate how to adjust recipes.

Outside of school, there are expanding self-education opportunities available on-

line or via clever gamified experiences. Make home meal preparation easier. Enter the meal kit, which provides the exact quantity of ingredients needed. One recent study showed that compared with traditional home-cooked meals, wasted food declined by 38% for meals prepared from kits

Meal kits generate increased packaging waste, but this additional impact may be offset by reduced food waste.

Heighten the consequences for wasting food. South Korea has begun implementing taxes on food wasted in homes by requiring people to dispose of it in special costly bags or, for apartment dwellers, through pay-asyou-go kiosks.

A recent analysis suggests that a small tax of 6 cents per kilogram – which, translated for a typical U.S. household, would total about $12 yearly – yielded a nearly 20% reduction in waste among the affected households. The tax also spurred households to spend 5% more time, or about an hour more per week, preparing meals, but the changes that people made reduced their yearly grocery bills by about $170.

There’s a need for many solutions to address food waste’s large contribution to global climate change and worldwide nutritional shortfalls. n

Brian E. Roe is a professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at The Ohio State University. Distributed by The Associated Press.

THING

Be pitch perfect

selling a product or a service, it’s important to create a strong and fluid sales strategy. Being able to double down on what’s working, and move on from what’s not, can make or break your business. Here are some strategies for designing your sales plan.

WHEN

n Have a sales pitch ready to go. You need to be able to communicate the value of your service or product quickly and effectively. Business owners live and breathe their products, so it’s easy to overlook the fact that people who are new to your brand may need basic context that you may take for granted. You need to be able to verbalize your pitch and have available a sheet or sales deck that can be handed or emailed to someone immediately. This deck or one sheet needs to be crisp, clean and pop visually. It needs to have a concise description of your services or product photos. It needs to include a differentiator and a value proposition. Make it short! Remember, you only have a couple seconds to hook someone.

n Think of your customers as your sales team. If you’re providing a useful service or an excellent product, they will talk about and recommend it. Your customers’ value will extend well beyond their purchases if you stay in touch and continue to support them in meaningful ways. Remember, they already have relationships with other potential clients or buyers. Make them want to sell for you!

n Network! It’s obvious that you should be attending events and networking in your own industry, but don’t stop there! The importance of getting your business’s name and mission out there into communities you don’t naturally fit into is unquantifiable but real. You never know who you’re going to meet. n

Kelley McShane

The Granny Squibb Co. LLC CEO Kelley McShane is CEO of Westerly-based The Granny Squibb Co. LLC. She and partner-owner Nick Carr joined the organic iced tea company in 2018 and have added more than 800 accounts since then.

Johnson & Wales University is using five decades of food and hospitality education to inform expanding academic areas like healthcare and business.

Learn more at JWU.edu