Community News

Know A Neighbor: Linda Newton

This East Sider uses her retirement to work for the community good

East Side Monthly Magazine ·

When East Sider Linda Newton, who grew up in Washington, D.C., first moved to Providence in 1974, she did not know much about the city or its neighborhoods. She had just graduated from Tufts University with a degree in English Literature, had landed a job teaching 4th grade at St. Pius Elementary School and her husband, Charles, was going to resume his studies at Providence College. Four decades later, there is probably not much about the city or its neighborhoods that Linda does not know.

Linda is a person who “has always been busy,” as she puts it, and with Linda one thing inevitably leads to another. Take her very first bit of volunteer work in Providence way back when. Her two young children were attending the Mt. Hope Day Care Center (now run by the Y), when Linda saw a need to broaden parental involvement at the center. She started a Parent Teacher Organization, first serving as the parent representative on the board and then, inevitably, staying on as a regular board member.

“That is where it all started,” she says of her volunteer work.

Linda’s professional career, almost entirely with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, evolved along that same path of finding ways to expand community involvement. She started with Blue Cross in 1977 working the phones as a customer service representative. When she retired in 2011, she had attained the position of Vice President of Community Relations and Diversity.

“Blue Cross is unique,” Linda contends. “It is a big company, but it only operates in Rhode Island.”

As the state’s demographics changed, she says, it was important for the company to reflect the needs of a much more diverse customer base. “I really had a chance to start a lot of things from scratch. I guess that must be what I am good at, because they had me do it multiple times.”

Just two examples: in 2001 Linda established and then managed the BlueAngel Community Outreach Program, which oversees the company’s employee volunteerism, grant and charitable giving programs; and in 2005 Linda established an endowed fund at the Rhode Island Foundation – the BCBSRI Community Health Fund, which supports many non-profits, including the Rhode Island Free Clinic, Clinica Esperanza and Farm Fresh RI with grants to help provide better health care access for all Rhode Islanders.

Linda has served on many boards, the National Board of the American Lung Association and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence, to name just two. She has received numerous awards for her community work, most recently United Way’s John H. Chafee Lifetime Service Award. She was Governor DiPrete’s appointment to the very first Ethics Commission, serving as chair for about three years. She also chaired the Rhode Island Commission on Women during Governor Carcieri’s administration.

Asked if she is going to continue to look for these kinds of personal challenges during retirement, or “kick back” and relax, Linda could only laugh. “Probably a little bit of both.” She currently co-chairs the Black Philanthropy Initiative, and is on the boards of the Rhode Island Food Bank, Kids Count and The Rhode Island Council of Churches.

In anticipation of “retiring,” Linda began two new endeavors. She re-established the non-profit, Diversity and Inclusion Professionals. She is DAIP’s president and main volunteer staff person.

“I do a lot of work for that organization to elevate the discussion about diversity and inclusion state-wide.”

Linda also started a consulting business, Newton & Newton, to help businesses strategize around the concept that diversity and inclusion can support business objectives and contribute to the bottom line. Clients have included Providence’s Lifelong Learning Collaborative, the Pawtucket Credit Union and, of course, BCBSRI.

Believe it or not, Linda has actually done a few things more in keeping with traditional concept of retirement. This summer she took her 11-year-old granddaughter on a two-week trip to Italy, and in August she took time to visit extended family in Maryland. She says she sets aside Mondays and Fridays for herself – getting more into cooking and catching up on her gardening skills. The gardening skills are evident on her beautiful deck and well-tended yard at her Mt. Hope home, the neighborhood she and her family have lived in since 1976.

In typical fashion, Linda assesses the East Side and Mt. Hope, specifically, in terms of community. She is not a fan of the signs identifying different East Side neighborhoods (College Hill, Mt. Hope, Summit, etc.).

“When I first moved here, there weren’t those kinds of distinctions. The signs just serve to separate what I think of as a great, diverse community, and that was one of the things that attracted me from the beginning. You have some of the wealthiest and some of the poorest. You see the Jewish families walking on Saturdays, and there is a great Cape Verdean community here. It just has everything. And it also has a great sort of core middle class that you don’t find anywhere else.” Mt. Hope, she feels, is now associated with the negative, “as opposed to, you know, being part of this really rich and diverse area.”

Hmm. There might be some truth to this. Will anyone seize an opportunity to expand the concept of community on the East Side?

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