Order and Community Under a Providence Bridge

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-08-02 19:53:00 UTC
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When a tent city makes the paper or 5 o'clock news, it's not usually a "feel good" story. Maybe it's meant to illustrate the effects of the recession, or an expose illustrating the deplorable conditions the area's newly homeless must endure.

But a story in last week's New York Times took an entirely different approach to the tired (but still critically important) tent city topic. Virtues like "order" and "community" were attributed to Camp Runamuck, a tent city with roughly 80 residents in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

Although the NYT piece is by no means cheerful, it is noteworthy because it captures the commitment to community and, consequently, dignity maintained by the camp's residents. 

Take a brief tour photo tour, courtesy of the NY Times, below. And I urge you to read the piece and share your thoughts below.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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