WEST WARWICK – The Centreville Bank Charitable Foundation has awarded $234,299 in funding to 24 organizations throughout Rhode Island and Connecticut as part of its 2024 third-quarter funding cycle, the bank announced.
“As a community bank, our mission is to help strengthen communities across Rhode Island and Connecticut. These grants reflect our dedication to partnering with local nonprofits that work tirelessly to address community needs and life-changing work,” Paola Fernandez, senior vice president and community development officer at the bank, said in a statement. “We are honored to play a role in helping address critical needs, strengthen our neighborhoods and empower individuals and families to thrive.”
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Individual grant amounts were not disclosed.
Local Return is one of the Rhode Island nonprofits receiving awards. The newly created organization with the goal of building community wealth in Rhode Island through local ownership and investment in real estate projects and related ventures, especially in neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment, will use the funds to help launch a pilot program in Providence.
“Thanks to this grant from the Centreville Bank Charitable Foundation, Local Return will bring the Jumpstart real estate development education, training, and networking program to Providence in 2025, aligned with Rhode Island’s first-ever community investment fund,” Local Return co-founder and President Jessica David said in a statement. “Real estate development is an important strategy for people who have been shut out of traditional wealth-building opportunities. This grant will help us to ensure that local residents own and benefit from [the] development of [neighborhood] assets.”
The foundation was established as a nonprofit charitable organization in 2008 by the board of trustees to further the philanthropic mission of the bank. It works to support local community-based organizations helping to meet the needs of underserved populations throughout Rhode Island and Connecticut. Grants are considered on a quarterly basis and are focused on the areas of education success, economic security and capacity building.
Other Rhode Island organizations receiving third-quarter grants include:
- Rhode Island Business Development Institute, which will use the funding to support program services dedicated to advancing the economic opportunities of Black-owned and minority businesses and individuals in Rhode Island.
- House of Hope Community Development Corp., which will use the funds to support the ECHO Village initiative that will offer shelter to individuals who are experiencing homelessness in Rhode Island.
- Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island, which will use the funding to support the ongoing Emergency Meals Program funded by Centreville Bank.
- Crossroads Rhode Island, which will use the funding to support its Housing Problem Solving Program for households at risk of homelessness.
- Community Preparatory School in Providence, which will use the funds for a student tuition scholarship.
- Sojourner House, which will use the funds to support its operations.
- United Way of Rhode Island Inc., in which funding represents the bank’s charitable foundation’s employee match from the Annual Giving Campaign.
- North Kingstown Food Pantry, which will use the funding to support its Food Nutrition Program.
- Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which will use the funds to support food procurement to help address food insecurity in Rhode Island.
- West Warwick Assistance Agency Inc., which will use the funds to provide aid to food grant requests.
- Jonnycake Center of Westerly, which will use the funding to support its food pantry.
- Coventry Housing Authority, which will put the funding toward supporting the Coventry Housing Assistance Fund.
- Innovation Studio, which will use the funds to support the Biz Bodega and Pathways to Entrepreneurship Program.
- Amenity Aid, which will use the funding to help address hygiene needs in Rhode Island.
- Sargent Rehabilitation Center, which will use the funds to support the expansion of an equine therapy program.
- Comprehensive Community Action Inc., which will use the funding to support food security initiatives in Rhode Island.
Connecticut organizations receiving third-quarter grants include:
- Community Health Resources, which will use the funds for the organization’s New Life and Milestone program supporting women who have undergone intensive treatment for substance use disorders.
- EastConn, which will use the funds to replace outdated network equipment in two buildings to meet the current demands of modern instructional technology.
- Day Kimball Healthcare Foundation, which will use the money to support the cancer fund.
- Rose City Learning Center, which will use the funds to provide support to the Norwich Adult English Proficiency/Workforces Program.
- Higher Edge, which will use the funds to support its College Access Program.
- Eastern CT Workforce Investment Board Inc., which will use the funds to help support the Connecticut Youth Employment Program.
- New London Community Meal Cent, which will use the funding to support community meals.
Founded in 1828 and headquartered in West Warwick, Centreville Bank is a full-service mutual bank with more than $2 billion in assets and 21 locations throughout Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut.