The Bristol Middle Passage Port Marker Project has been selected to receive a 2026 RI HOPE Award, presented by the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact at United Way of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island General Assembly. Nominated by State Representative June Speakman, the organization is being recognized for its meaningful efforts to bring reflection, education, and hope to the local community.

The official 2026 RI HOPE Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, November 13, 2026, at 1 p.m. in the Library at the Rhode Island State House (Room 208), located at 82 Smith Street, Providence.

Established by the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact — the statewide network for Ocean State nonprofits — the annual RI HOPE Awards coincide with Nonprofit Appreciation Month each November. The awards empower members of the Rhode Island General Assembly to recognize outstanding nonprofit organizations and volunteers making a measurable difference within their respective legislative districts.

"We are deeply honored to accept the 2026 RI HOPE Award, and we express our profound gratitude to Representative June Speakman for her support and for nominating our work," said Dr. Bernard Freamon, President of the Bristol Middle Passage Port Marker Project. "This recognition highlights the importance of honoring historic truth and fostering unity across Rhode Island."

Representative Speakman selected the project in recognition of the vital role the Bristol Middle Passage Port Marker Project plays in illuminating local history and bringing hope and educational awareness to the district.

The Bristol Middle Passage Port Marker Project is a nonprofit community organization dedicated to the recognition of the positive roles that enslaved and formerly-enslaved Africans and Native Americans have have made to Rhode Island and our country and to remembering the role that Bristol and other Rhode Island communities played in the International Slave Trade. It erected the Bristol Middle Passage Memorial in Independence Park, Bristol, last year.
For more information visit bristolmiddlepassageportmarkerproject.org.