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Providence Commemoration Lab

A collaboration of the Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism and the Rhode Island Historical Society. Funded in part by the Mellon Foundation and the American Rescue Plan.

Raffini

Raffini (she/her) has been educating and enlightening young people most of her life. She is a poet, oral historian and playwright, best known as a member of RI Black Storytellers.

In the 1980s, she started teaching gardening to youth and adults, including Southside Community Land Trust garden workshops. She worked at the UCAP School (the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program) for 25 years as an arts educator, and managed a program called “Sister to Sister,” which brought young girls of color together to learn their history and discuss how to improve their lives. Raffini says she’s still in contact with most of the graduates of the program.

Her goal, she says, “is to lift young people through education and knowledge of their elders and ancestors – particularly their struggles, contributions and sacrifices – to give youth a positive understanding of their self-worth.”

Every January, RI Black Storytellers hosts Funda Fest around MLK’s birthday. Funda means to learn and to share, and that’s exactly how she lives her life.

Raffini

Raffini (she/her) has been educating and enlightening young people most of her life. She is a poet, oral historian and playwright, best known as a member of RI Black Storytellers.

In the 1980s, she started teaching gardening to youth and adults, including Southside Community Land Trust garden workshops. She worked at the UCAP School (the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program) for 25 years as an arts educator, and managed a program called “Sister to Sister,” which brought young girls of color together to learn their history and discuss how to improve their lives. Raffini says she’s still in contact with most of the graduates of the program.

Her goal, she says, “is to lift young people through education and knowledge of their elders and ancestors – particularly their struggles, contributions and sacrifices – to give youth a positive understanding of their self-worth.”

Every January, RI Black Storytellers hosts Funda Fest around MLK’s birthday. Funda means to learn and to share, and that’s exactly how she lives her life.

Raffini

Raffini (she/her) has been educating and enlightening young people most of her life. She is a poet, oral historian and playwright, best known as a member of RI Black Storytellers.

In the 1980s, she started teaching gardening to youth and adults, including Southside Community Land Trust garden workshops. She worked at the UCAP School (the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program) for 25 years as an arts educator, and managed a program called “Sister to Sister,” which brought young girls of color together to learn their history and discuss how to improve their lives. Raffini says she’s still in contact with most of the graduates of the program.

Her goal, she says, “is to lift young people through education and knowledge of their elders and ancestors – particularly their struggles, contributions and sacrifices – to give youth a positive understanding of their self-worth.”

Every January, RI Black Storytellers hosts Funda Fest around MLK’s birthday. Funda means to learn and to share, and that’s exactly how she lives her life.