Home America250-Enduring Success America250-Enduring Success: Crossroads Rhode Island

America250-Enduring Success: Crossroads Rhode Island

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Jacquelyn Voghel

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06/15/2026

Michelle Wilcox, CEO of Crossroads Rhode Island — MICHELLE WILCOX is the CEO of Crossroads Rhode Island which opened its doors in 1884 as a department within the Young Women's Christian Association. Today, the nonprofit’s mission is focused entirely on assisting people experiencing homelessness – a shift that occurred gradually over the next 140-plus years. /PROVIDENCE BUSINESS NEWS/ TRACY JENKINS

(Editor’s note: This is the 13th installment in a weekly series featuring Rhode Island’s oldest companies as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The other stories from this series can be found here.) PROVIDENCE – When Crossroads Rhode Island opened its doors in 1884, the organization, then a department within

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(Editor’s note: This is the 13th installment in a weekly series featuring Rhode Island’s oldest companies as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The other stories from this series can be found here.) PROVIDENCE – When Crossroads Rhode Island opened its doors in 1884, the organization, then a department within the Young Women's Christian Association, was known as Travelers Aid. “The idea was specifically to help young women who were traveling into the big city, Providence, and wanted to make sure they didn’t fall into jeopardy,” said Crossroads CEO Michelle Wilcox. Today, the nonprofit’s mission is focused entirely on assisting people experiencing homelessness – a shift that occurred gradually over 140-plus years. But the organization’s core mission remains the same since its founding. “The throughline from the organization’s inception in 1894 through today is we’re focused on people in need who are on a journey, literally,” Wilcox said. “We’re using that as a metaphor – we're all on a journey – but folks who are in need of services and supports to help them find a way back home.” The emphasis on assisting literal travelers persisted through the mid-20th century, with Travelers Aid of Rhode Island based in Providence’s transit hub and staffing a desk at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport. From these transportation centers, staff helped people with problems such as lost tickets, financial issues and the aftermath of robberies. The organization’s most pointed shift occurred in the 1970s, when poorly-implemented deinstitutionalization processes left many individuals who had previously been confined to psychiatric hospitals without a support network or place to stay. “We started to see real increases in people struggling with substance use and mental health issues,” Wilcox said. In response, Travelers Aid added crisis intervention services and “evolved into a comprehensive, multi-service organization providing 24/7 services.” Some of those expanded offerings included a mobile medical van, street outreach for runaway and homeless youth, and education and employment programs such as an adult learning center. “We’re serving people who are at some of the most difficult points in their life when they come to us,” Wilcox said, who are “experiencing homeless, in many cases, and have lost everything.” In 2004, the nonprofit renamed itself as Crossroads Rhode Island, and around 2011 shifted to center affordable housing production and availability – a lofty task as Rhode Island contends with a long-held status of trailing the nation in rates of new housing production. That plan includes projects such as the Crossroads-developed Summer Street Apartments. The building, completed last year, is the largest permanent supportive complex in New England. Another project currently under construction, the Health and Housing Apartments, will serve as a first-of-its-kind facility for medically vulnerable people and is slated for completion by the end of the year. In early 2027, Crossroads intends to begin renovating its former Travelers Aid towers into an additional 80 apartments. All in all, the three developments will provide nearly 300 permanent units to some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. Many of these Crossroads clients experience chronic homelessness and have extremely low incomes, and face challenges such as chronic and disabling health conditions, including mental health and substance use disorders. The nonprofit appointed its first executive director in 1986, when it had just one-and-a-half full-time equivalent employees. Wilcox joined the organization in 1993, when that number had grown to about 70. Today, it’s 230, and has surged alongside community need. After the 1970s deinstitutionalization fallout, the levels of people experiencing homelessness steadily increased during the 1990s through the 2010s. But in the organization’s 140-plus year history, the most dramatic increase in people experiencing homelessness has occurred over the last five years. The causes are clear, says Wilcox, who became CEO in 2024: an insufficient supply of affordable housing, and wages that aren’t keeping up with the cost of housing. Wilcox cites the organization’s adaptability to meet community needs as the driver behind its longevity. “We’re certainly not the same organization we were 100 years ago, 50 years ago, or even 30 years ago,” Wilcox said, “and I think one of the most important things about Crossroads is that we have continually evolved to meet the needs of those most in need in the community, and we have tremendous support from the community.” The nonprofit will continue to pivot, Wilcox said, particularly as it braces for federal policy changes and cuts to housing programs under the administration of President Donald J. Trump. Crossroads is operating on a $25 million annual budget this year and receives a mix of government grants and philanthropic donations. The organization expects “potentially significant policy shifts coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development,” a longtime funding source and is “watching Washington and very quickly preparing for the possibility that we may have to reengineer the programs and services we provide,” Wilcox said. “But we’ve been around for more than 130 years,” she continued, “and I’m confident we are not going anywhere. We will maintain our focus on the only solution to homelessness, which is housing, and making sure every Rhode Islander has a safe place to call home.” Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.