Lawrence was recently named RIC’s first emergency management director, a role college leaders had been planning before the December mass shooting across town at Brown University, but which took on new urgency after the tragedy.

Few resumes are better suited to the job.

A 20-year career in the New York Police Department. Commanding officer of the NYPD’s Employee Assistance Unit. A master’s degree from Harvard.

Lawrence got to Rhode Island the way a lot of people do: through someone who grew up here and never really left, at least not in spirit. Her husband, Brooke Lawrence, grew up in West Greenwich, and is director of the town’s emergency management agency.

“I couldn’t imagine retiring in my 40s,” Lawrence told me. “And I couldn’t imagine not giving back to my community.”

Public service has been part of Lawrence’s life for as long as she can remember. A New Jersey native, she dreamed of following in the footsteps of her mentor, a longtime FBI agent. She graduated from Monmouth University and earned a master’s degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College in 2001, shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks.

There was high demand for police in New York at the time, so Lawrence raised her hand to serve. She worked her way up the ranks from patrol to lieutenant, eventually taking charge of the department’s Employee Assistance Unit, a peer support program that helps rank-and-file officers navigate the most traumatic parts of the job. She later earned a second master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

“It’s making sure our officers are getting through their career in the same mental capacity as they came on the job,” Lawrence said.

There’s a version of Lawrence’s new job that feels routine, especially at a quiet commuter campus like Rhode Island College. And when Lawrence was initially hired part-time last fall, it probably was.

Then the shooting at Brown University changed the stakes almost overnight.

On Dec. 13, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national and one-time student at Brown, opened fire inside the Barus and Holley building, killing two students and injuring nine others. Neves Valente also killed an MIT professor before he was found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In eerie videos recorded in the storage unit, Neves Valente admitted that he stalked the Brown campus for weeks prior to his attack. He largely went unnoticed by campus security, which led the university’s police chief to be placed on leave and essentially replaced by former Providence Police Chief Colonel Hugh Clements.

Lawrence assisted with the response at Brown. She leads the trauma response team for the Rhode Island Behavioral Health Medical Reserve Corps, which staffed the family reunification center in the hours after the shooting.

RIC’s campus is more enclosed than Brown’s — there are only two major entryways to the college — but there are unique challenges.

For one, it’s technically located in both Providence and North Providence, which requires coordination between multiple public safety departments in both communities.

More specifically, Lawrence noted that every building on campus has the same address, which can present a challenge in an emergency. Lawrence has worked with RIC leadership and local public safety to assign an address to each building.

Lawrence stressed that she doesn’t want RIC to overreact to the tragedy at Brown, and she said campus leaders are committed to keeping the tight-knit community intact.

But she admits that the shooting remains top of mind.

“Every campus community sees what happened at Brown and says ‘please don’t let that happen to us,’” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said everyone at RIC feels a deep sense of responsibility to keep students safe during their time on campus.

And she already feels right at home.

“I want to come home from work every day and feel like I made a difference,” she said.

Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.

If you thought the smart money was on pop icon Taylor Swift and gridiron star Travis Kelce tying the knot in Rhode Island, an online crypto casino and sportsbook is here to tell you you’re wrong.

The Ocean State was the second favorite at +155 and 39.22%, and Pennsylvania and Ohio were together at a distant third at +1,600 and 5.88%.

Tennessee was the fifth choice at +2,000 and 4.76%.

“New York is the favourite because it’s the city most closely tied to Taylor Swift’s public life, with multiple residences, strong emotional branding, and world‑class venues that offer privacy and security for a high‑profile event,” an unidentified spokesperson said in a media release.

Human Remains Found Near Taylor Swift’s Mansion Identified: Report

Part of the story is the pandemic-era shift toward smaller cities. But the larger truth is Providence has not built enough housing to keep up with demand. In 2024, Rhode Island ranked 50th in the nation for new housing permits – dead last. That isn’t ideology; it is economics.

As housing experts have said, including HousingWorksRI Executive Director Brenda Clement, we have a basic supply-and-demand problem. Expanding housing supply for everyone should be the focus.

To its credit, Providence has begun to move. Recent efforts by Mayor Brett Smiley, the City Council, nonprofit partners, and private developers have created hundreds of new units. More are in the pipeline. That progress must continue.

As rents rise, pressure for immediate relief has grown. The City Council’s proposed solution is rent control: a cap on annual rent increases at 4 percent. In practice, it fails to solve the underlying problem, and creates new ones.

First, rent control does not make today’s rent affordable, it only limits future increases by creating a cap. Many landlords will raise rents to the cap each year. A $2,000 apartment under a 4 percent cap becomes $2,433 after five years – an increase that renters still feel acutely. That is basic compounding, not a worst-case scenario.

Second, rent control would create a hole in Providence’s budget, as it reduces the taxable value of properties. The Smiley administration examined rent-controlled cities and applied the outcomes to Providence’s tax base. The projected annual revenue loss ranges from $10.3 million to $17.5 million.

When rental property values decline, cities are left with two choices: raise taxes or cut services. Education funding, park improvements, library funding, and basic infrastructure all come under pressure. Experience elsewhere shows this burden does not fall on landlords; it shifts to single-family homeowners. Portland, Maine, saw a 5.4 percent reduction in its tax base after rent control, forcing these tradeoffs. The implementation of rent control will affect all Providence residents, whether they rent or own.

Third, rent control discourages new housing production, the opposite of what Providence needs. Developers are less likely to build in cities where future revenue is capped, financing is harder, and long-term costs are unpredictable. St. Paul, Minnesota, offers a cautionary tale. After voters approved a strict rent cap in 2021, new unit creation dropped by more than 84 percent in the first quarter, forcing city leaders to exempt new construction, which is exempt in the Providence City Council rent control proposal.

When we build more housing at all price points, market pressure eases, as supply catches up with demand.

That does not mean ignoring the pain people feel today. I grew up here, attended our public schools, and bought a modest single-family home in the neighborhood where I was raised. I feel today’s housing pressures firsthand and hear them daily from family and neighbors. After 12 years on the council, including a leadership role in 2011 when Providence was on the brink of bankruptcy, I know our elected officials genuinely want workable solutions.

That is why, as executive director of The Providence Foundation, an organization of 140 private business and nonprofit members from myriad industries, I recommended we commission a study by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council to educate the public on this issue and identify solutions. The report revealed the most effective approach to housing shortages and high costs pairs aggressive housing production with targeted rental assistance for households most at risk of displacement.

Cities across the country have shown what works: modernized zoning, faster permitting, conversion of underused commercial space, and temporary rental assistance to help families stay housed while new supply comes online. These strategies outperform rent control. Overcoming the housing challenge will require all levels of government to play a role.

Reasoned policy will meet Providence’s housing needs and strengthen our economy for a brighter tomorrow.

David Salvatore is the executive director of The Providence Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to supporting visionary projects downtown, and a former Providence City Council president and member.