PROVIDENCE – Nonprofits on the front lines responding to the COVID-19 pandemic will be eligible for a much-needed financial boost to continue helping local communities.
Gov. Daniel J. McKee, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos and Rhode Island Foundation CEO and President Neil D. Steinberg on Monday announced that $4.5 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds will be given to eligible Rhode Island-based nonprofits.
The grants will range between $25,000 and $100,000, and can be used for services or direct assistance responding to the pandemic. Among those services are housing and homeless assistance, food insecurity, job training, youth services, child care and behavioral health services.
“That [funding] can go a long way to help those who help us,” McKee said at a Statehouse press conference. “We know there are so many individuals in the communities in need. Here in Rhode Island, we have access to federal funding that we must take advantage of. This is an opportunity to make the best of the federal funding, and invest in services and programs that so many Rhode Islanders rely on.”
McKee, Matos and Steinberg said that pandemic-related costs incurred by nonprofits must be between March 20, 2020, and Dec. 30, 2021. Eligible nonprofits can apply for the grants through Dec. 6 by visiting the Rhode Island Foundation’s website.
This is not the first time that the state and the foundation have collaborated on assisting nonprofits in Rhode Island. In late 2020, $2.5 million in grants were distributed to nonprofits in a similar program as to the one announced Monday. Additionally, the state and the foundation over the summer distributed $750,000 to nonprofits through its RI Gives Vax Challenge incentive program to help boost both nonprofits and the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rate at the time.
Steinberg said the the program’s grantees will be announced early next month after the applications are reviewed. He also said this program will be a “great booster” to the nonprofits who have been on the front lines battling the pandemic, as well as be supplemental to the nonprofits during a period in which they’re seeking donated funding during the holiday season.
“It helps right now to get the money out to those in need,” Steinberg said, “but they also need all the money from those generous donors.”
Also during Monday’s press conference, McKee said there is still approximately $20 million in CARES Act money that the state has yet to allocate before the Dec. 31 deadline. McKee said a plan on allocating the remaining CARES money will be laid out within the next 10 days.
“We want to make sure these dollars are used in a way that is most helpful,” McKee said. “And also, we don’t want to be overspending. Because if we do overspend, it creates another problem.”
McKee added that the state’s $1.1 billion share of the American Rescue Plan Act funding “will be a discussion in 2022.” He had hoped to spend some of that money this year but the General Assembly is still considering the $110 million McKee requested in immediate spending of ARPA funds.
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.
