R.I. Foundation awards $1.35M in grants to help improve behavioral health

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Foundation announced Monday that it has awarded $1.35 million in grants to seven local organizations and state health equity zones in order to help improve behavioral health across the Ocean State.

The foundation said the organizations that received funding – which ranged between $100,000 and $250,000 – will work with community partners to address behavioral health challenges to underserved populations in Central Falls, Cranston, West Warwick, Woonsocket, Newport and Washington counties.

The foundation said it received 39 applications for funding opportunities via the nonprofit funder’s Fund for a Healthy Rhode Island. The recipients were chosen on how well they brought together clinical and community organizations, leveraged funding or in-kind support and engaged residents, the foundation said.

Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation’s CEO and president, said Monday in a statement that behavioral health challenges were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and these are “extraordinarily stressful times” for many people in Rhode Island.

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These grants focus on addressing disparities in access to behavioral health services and substance use treatment that are having a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, including communities of color,” Steinberg said.

The organizations that received funding, and their plans for it, are:

  • The Children and Youth Cabinet: $250,000 to provide behavioral health care and prevention programs designed for Latino youth and their families
  • Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Washington County: $250,000 to hire youth organizers to work in four challenged communities in the region
  • OneCranston Health Equity Zone: $250,000 to launch a family support center to improve behavioral health of the city’s children and adolescents
  • Woonsocket Health Equity Zone: $250,000 to launch the “Child Friendly Woonsocket” initiative to help build a community that addresses social and structural determinants of good mental health
  • Strategic Prevention Partnership: $125,000 to support the design and implementation of the Behavioral Health Community Council and the Interagency Care Coordination Team to help identify health care barriers and service gaps
  • West Warwick Health Equity Zone: $125,000 to lead a planning initiative to increase the supply of affordable housing in the town
  • The Center for Health and Justice Transformation and ONE Neighborhood Builders: $100,000 to develop new models for affordable apartments that include supportive services for people who have been incarcerated

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.