Help make Providence a healthier place to live
The Noise Project is run entirely by volunteers who live in the city and seek to address excessive noise in order to improve the health and quality of life of all residents and visitors. Among the many ways to support our efforts are:
- Tell us your experience of noise in Providence by taking our Community Noise Survey — We want to hear from residents about how noise affects their health, well-being, and daily quality of life. We use this information to better understand noise levels, sources, and potential responses around the city. (View the aggregated data from the survey and read testimonials.)
- Report excessive noise — Providence residents have two choices when exposed to unhealthy noise: endure it or report it. The former means nothing changes, and we think most people who visit our website don’t do so because they like the status quo. The latter offers a path to a quieter, healthier, and more livable city. Which sounds better to you?
- Join our e-mail list — Mailings are generally quarterly or even less, with additional messages if and when events warrant. (Most subscribers complain that we don’t send enough e-mails.)
- Subscribe to our Twitter and Bluesky feeds and re-post them to help spread the word about noise issues. (“Likes” are great, but we need your help to reach as many people as possible.)
- Help us advocate for noise reduction — Learn about the health effects of excessive noise, the local and state laws that regulate it, and what other cities in the U.S. and around the world are doing to try to reduce it. Then educate your family, friends, neighbors, city and state officials, and news media about the adverse health effects of noise, and encourage them to take steps to reduce unhealthy and unnecessary noise in Providence.
By commenting on social media, contacting government officials and the media (to ask for more coverage, and support what little there is), submitting testimony to public hearings, and other active steps, you can help to foster greater awareness of the adverse effects of noise, develop relationships with people who can address it, and offer ideas and support for efforts to reduce it.
- Donate — Most of our programs and policy initiatives incur some costs, such as printing outreach materials, fees for website hosting, research access, and similar advocacy-related expenses. If you would like to donate to help us defray some of our expenses, provide other forms of support described above, or want to contribute another way, please contact us.*
There are also non-monetary ways to support the Project, including volunteering (see below) and what are often called “in-kind” donations: e.g., advertising space or other form of promotion, food and drinks for volunteers and events, items or discount offers as incentives for participation in focus groups, use of meeting and event spaces, and other types of goods and services. Use the contact link above to let us know what you’d like to contribute.
- Volunteer — Another form of donation is contributing your time and skills. We welcome volunteers from a variety of backgrounds (including but not limited to public health, urban policy, grassroots activism, fundraising, legislation and legal advocacy, and acoustic / electrical engineering) with an interest in reducing noise and enhancing the city’s quality of life.
- Contact the Noise Project with your questions, comments, or suggestions. If you work for or know of a Providence-based community organization that would like to host a discussion about noise in your neighborhood or the city as a whole, let us know.
- Other ways — The examples above are just a few ways that you can help make Providence healthier and more livable. If there’s something you’d like to do that isn‘t mentioned above, please contact us and let us know how you can help. We appreciate creative thinkers!
* Note: Our project has a non-profit fiscal agent for seeking institutional grants, but at the current time donations from individuals are not tax-deductible.