WARWICK – State elected and education officials on Tuesday at Oakland Beach Elementary School announced that 21 grants totaling $3.9 million were awarded to local education agencies and their partnering sponsors aimed to expand access by extending learning opportunities to improve student outcomes within Rhode Island.
Gov. Daniel McKee’s office and the R.I. Department of Education said the grants were funded through the state’s portion of the American Rescue Plan Act’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief set-aside funding. The state back in October issued proposal requests for applications to foster new or expanded partnerships between a local education agency and one or more community-based organizations to provide afterschool learning and enrichment opportunities for students in a specific school or set of schools.
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McKee’s office says the grants, which range between $61,000 to $399,547, runs through 2024. Additionally, McKee has proposed in his 2024 fiscal year state budget another $4 million in the #RIReady budget to expand supplemental high-quality learning experiences.
“To improve student outcomes, we are focused on shifting learning in Rhode Island from the traditional 180 school days to 365 days of learning, and we’re making the strategic investments to make it happen,” McKee said in a statement.
R.I. Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said in her respective statement that students are heading in the right direction education-wise based on last year’s Rhode Island Common Assessment System test scores, but said “a lot of work remains.” These programs that received the grants “will help close the gap,” she said.
The organizations and education agencies that received the funding, and their amounts, are:
- Kizirian Elementary School and Messer Elementary School, Providence; and Federal Hill House Association: $399,547
- Villa Nova Middle School and Woonsocket High School; and Connecting for Children & Families, Riverzedge Arts, Blackstone Valley Prevention Coalition, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, and Boys & Girls Club of Woonsocket: $310,000
- Rogers High School and Thompson Middle School, Newport; Newport Community School: $250,000
- Paul Cuffee Middle School, Providence; Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and MacColl YMCA: $213,435
- Oakland Beach Elementary School, Warwick; Boys & Girls Club of Warwick: $200,000
- Segue Institute for Learning, Central Falls; Sojourner House and Farm Fresh Rhode Island: $200,000
- Mary Fogarty Elementary School, Providence; Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence: $200,000
- Slater Middle School, Pawtucket; Boys & Girls Clubs of Pawtucket: $199,827
- Riverside Middle School, East Providence; Boys & Girls Club of East Providence: $194,261
- Gallagher Middle School, Smithfield; Smithfield YMCA: $185,899
- Calcutt Middle School, Central Falls; Onward We Learn: $180,000
- East Providence High School; Boys & Girls Club of East Providence: $173,026
- Martin Luther King Elementary School, Providence; Mt. Hope Learning Center: $172,288
- Pell Elementary School, Newport; East Bay Community Action Program: $170,000
- Veterans Elementary School and Calcutt Middle School, Central Falls; Project GOAL: $165,000
- Highlander Elementary School, Providence; Center for Dynamic Learning: $160,162
- The Metropolitan Regional and Technical Center, Providence; Providence Public Library: $150,284
- Norwood Elementary School, Warwick; Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre: $150,000
- Thompson Middle School, Newport; International Tennis Hall of Fame: $120,000
- D’Abate Elementary School, Providence; One Neighborhood Builders: $77,530
- Kingston Hill Academy, South Kingstown; The Autism Project: $61,000
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
