Every year, Family Service of Rhode Island’s Brighter Futures Award Luncheon brings together community partners, supporters, and staff to celebrate the people who help us advance opportunity and hope in our communities. This year, we’re proud to recognize two individuals whose work and character embody that mission in very different but equally powerful ways: Chief Judge Michael B. Forte, recipient of the Brighter Futures Award, and Waldy Rodriguez, recipient of the Community Hug Award.
Chief Judge Michael B. Forte: The Brighter Futures Award
The Brighter Futures Award recognizes individuals whose leadership and vision have had a lasting impact on the children and families FSRI serves. This year, that honor goes to Chief Judge Michael B. Forte of Rhode Island Family Court.
Chief Judge Forte’s work sits at the intersection of justice and family wellbeing — a place where the decisions made can shape the trajectory of a child’s entire life. His leadership has helped strengthen the systems that Rhode Island’s most vulnerable families rely on, reflecting a career-long commitment to ensuring that the Family Court serves not just as a venue for legal proceedings, but as a partner in building brighter futures for the families who come before it.
FSRI is honored to celebrate his contributions to a system that, at its best, works hand in hand with community organizations to protect and support families across Rhode Island.
Waldy Rodriguez: The Community Hug Award
The Community Hug Award honors something a little different: the warmth, care, and human connection that hold a workplace and a community together. It’s named for the kind of presence that makes people feel seen — a hug in spirit, if not always in practice.
This year’s recipient, Waldy Rodriguez, has been part of the FSRI family for over 20 years. Across two decades, Waldy’s career has been defined by a singular commitment: showing up, again and again, for children and families navigating some of the hardest moments in their lives.
Colleagues describe Waldy not just as a skilled professional, but as someone who embodies what FSRI hopes every staff member will become — steady, compassionate, and relentlessly focused on the people at the center of the work. Twenty years is a long time to keep showing up with that same warmth, and it’s exactly what this award was created to celebrate.
Why Unrestricted Funding Makes This Work Possible
Stories like these don’t happen in a vacuum — they’re made possible by the flexibility that unrestricted funding provides. While grants and program-specific dollars are essential, they often come with limits on exactly how and when they can be used. Unrestricted gifts let FSRI respond in real time to what a family actually needs, not just what a particular funding stream allows for.
That flexibility shows up in tangible, sometimes life-changing ways, such as:
- Bridging housing during career transitions. Covering 1–3 months of housing support for a parent between jobs or completing a training program, so a family doesn’t lose stable housing while working toward greater self-sufficiency.
- Closing emergency gaps. Stepping in for a family facing a sudden crisis — a lost job, a medical emergency, a utility shutoff notice — where a fast, flexible response can prevent a temporary setback from becoming a lasting one.
- Removing transportation barriers. Helping a parent get to work, a child get to school, or a family get to critical appointments when reliable transportation stands between them and stability.
- Filling the small gaps traditional funding misses. Covering the everyday essentials — a security deposit, a car repair, a childcare gap — that don’t fit neatly into any single grant but can make or break a family’s progress.
These aren’t line items in a program budget. They’re the kind of support that meets Rhode Island’s most vulnerable families exactly where they are, when they need it most — which is precisely why unrestricted giving is one of the most powerful ways our community can invest in lasting change.
Join Us in Celebrating
FSRI invites our community of supporters, partners, and friends to join us at the Brighter Futures Award Luncheon as we celebrate Chief Judge Michael B. Forte and Waldy Rodriguez, and the many ways our honorees embody FSRI’s mission to advance opportunity and hope in our communities. Your presence — and support — helps ensure that stories like theirs can keep multiplying across Rhode Island’s families and communities.