Committee advances ceremonial designation of Dodge Street as 'Miss Barbara Thurman Way'

The Providence City Council Urban Redevelopment and Renewal Committee voted to advance a resolution that would designate Dodge Street as Miss Barbara Thurman Way and request the Department of Public Works install one or more honorary signs along the street.

The resolution honors Barbara Thurman for decades of neighborhood organizing and service in Wiggins Village; supporters told the committee her work ranged from tenant organizing to helping immigrants access services. Crystal Vora, Thurman's daughter, told the committee her mother "has spent nearly 6 decades dedicating her life to fostering unity, improving quality of life, and building lasting connections both within her community and beyond." She urged the committee to make the designation permanent.

Committee members heard from several community members who described Thurman as a longtime tenant leader and neighborhood organizer. Paul Magasta, who said he has known Thurman nearly 40 years, said she helped the Wiggins Village property secure refinancing and programmatic supports and called her "deserving of this honor." Michael Lee Borateman, who identified himself as Thurman's grandson, described Thurman's work on citizenship assistance and neighborhood safety campaigns and said the proposed designation would "acknowledge a community that she's helped to shape." Dr. Daniel Fernandez Jr. also spoke in support of the designation.

The resolution text read into the record cites Thurman's induction into the Martin Luther King Jr. Hall of Fame in 2015 and an NAACP Joseph LeCount Award in 2018, and it asks the Department of Public Works to "manufacture, install, and maintain one or more honorary signs at prominent and appropriate locations along Dodge Street." The resolution also directs copies be sent to Thurman and her family, the Wiggins Village Tenant Association, the mayor's office, and the director of public works.

Committee members agreed to an amendment to reflect how the community most commonly addresses Thurman, replacing the plain name with the honorific the family prefers. After the amendment was moved and seconded, the committee voted in favor; the item was advanced out of committee as amended and will be placed on the full Providence City Council agenda in September for final consideration.

No formal roll-call vote with member names and tallies was recorded in the committee transcript provided; the committee chair announced the item was passed out of committee as amended. The resolution as drafted does not change street names on maps or property addresses — it establishes an honorary designation and directs the public works department to install signage reflecting that honorary name.