R.I. Foundation awards $300K in grants to nonprofits via census fund

ELECTED OFFICIALS and advocates are pictured at an R.I. Statehouse event last April to launch the state’s Complete Count efforts. The Rhode Island Foundation announced Monday that 26 nonprofit organizations received close to $300,000 in total for outreach and education that will encourage participation in the 2020 census. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
ELECTED OFFICIALS and advocates are pictured at an R.I. Statehouse event last April to launch the state’s Complete Count efforts. The Rhode Island Foundation announced Monday that 26 nonprofit organizations received close to $300,000 in total for outreach and education that will encourage participation in the 2020 census. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION

PROVIDENCE – Twenty-six nonprofit organizations were the beneficiaries of close to $300,000 in grants offered by the Rhode Island Foundation through its Rhode Island Census 2020 Fund, the foundation announced Monday.

The Rhode Island Foundation announced in October the program’s launch, in which the grants will support one-time or periodic activities for raising awareness about the census. The grants also must focus on a “specific demographic community or geographic area” in Rhode Island at risk of being undercounted, the foundation said when it announced the program.

The foundation said the program’s goal is to protect the approximately $3.8 billion Rhode Island receives annually in federal funding for education, health care, housing and other needed programs based on census data.

“These census outreach grants are an essential tool to build the grassroots effort that will help us achieve our goal of ensuring that every Rhode Islander is counted,” said Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, director of the R.I. Department of Health, who co-chairs Rhode Island’s Complete Count Committee, in a statement.

- Advertisement -

The Rhode Island Foundation said that 60 organizations submitted proposals, totaling $1.2 million, in the grant program’s first round of funding, with the winning organizations receiving between $2,500 and $20,000.

The organizations that received funding and their amounts:

  • Fuerza Laboral, of Central Falls, $20,000
  • ONE Neighborhood Builders, of Providence, $20,000
  • Progresso Latino, of Central Falls, $20,000
  • NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, of Woonsocket, $18,000
  • Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, of Pawtucket, $18,000
  • Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic, of Providence, $15,000
  • Genesis Center, of Providence, $15,000
  • Thundermist Health Center, of Warwick, $15,000
  • Turning Around Ministries Inc., of Newport, $15,000
  • Amos House, of Providence, $13,000
  • City of Newport, $13,000
  • Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education, of Providence, $10,000
  • Center for Southeast Asians, of Providence, $10,000
  • Children’s Friend, of Providence, $10,000
  • Elisha Project, of East Providence, $10,000
  • Meals on Wheels of Rhode Island, of Providence, $10,000
  • Refugee Development Center, of Providence, $10,000
  • The College Crusade of Rhode Island, of Providence, $10,000
  • West Elmwood Housing Development Corp., of Providence, $10,000
  • East Providence Public Library, of East Providence, $8,000
  • Rhode Island Professionals Latino Association, of Providence, $8,000
  • Generation Citizen, of Providence, $7,500
  • Providence Community Opportunity Corp., of Providence, $5,000
  • House of Manna Ministries, of Providence, $3,000
  • Ready to Learn Providence, of Providence, $3,000
  • Museum of Work & Culture, of Woonsocket, $2,500

Applications for a second round of funding, which will provide at least $125,000 in funding, are already being accepted. Rhode Island-based nonprofit organizations, municipal governments, public agencies such as libraries or schools, houses of worship and community-based groups have until Jan. 31 to apply.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.

No posts to display