The Boys & Girls Club of Newport County, You Are Not Alone in Middletown and Newport Mental Health are among 25 local organizations that are sharing $1.9 million in grants to provide housing, food and behavioral health services from the Rhode Island Foundation. The funding was through its $20 million ARPA Nonprofit Support Program.
“We are grateful that state leaders believed in our capacity to quickly get this funding into the hands of the nonprofit organizations that are doing the boots-on-the-ground work helping those in their communities recover from the pandemic’s continuing impact on their daily lives,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO.
You Are Not Alone (YANA) in Newport will use its grant to provide Behavioral Health Services for residents of and visitors to Newport County. Founded in 2021, the organization focuses on abuse treatment, prevention, outreach, and long-term recovery support.
“YANA is responding to the lack of meeting spaces for recovery groups during the pandemic. We are dedicated to providing safe, comfortable facilities for groups who utilize the 12-Steps and 12-Traditions for recovery from all varieties of addiction. Being selected to receive a grant validates the importance of the work we do,” said David Howe, chairman of YANA’s board of directors.
The other local organizations receiving grants include Child & Family Services in Middletown, the Jamestown Community Farm, the Herren Project in Tiverton and the Housing Hotline in Newport. All of the organizations will use their funding to help Newport County residents who are struggling with hunger, housing insecurity or behavioral health challenges. The full list of recipients is available at rifoundation.org.
Governor Dan McKee, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio tapped the Foundation to distribute the funding from Rhode Island’s $1.1 billion share of the federal American Rescue Plan Act allocation for COVID-19 recovery.
“Thank you to Neil Steinberg and the Rhode Island Foundation for getting this critical funding out the door so quickly,” said Speaker Shekarchi. “In just six months, the Rhode Island Foundation has deployed $20 million to the organizations that are many of the unsung heroes of the pandemic, supporting Rhode Islanders as we collectively get back on our feet and move forward. Thank you to all of the grant recipients for your great work.”
The $20 million the Foundation has awarded since December is the single largest pool of grants in the organization’s 107-year-history.
“Our nonprofits and community organizations provided critical on the ground supports to Rhode Islanders throughout the COVID pandemic even while facing negative economic impacts themselves,” said Governor McKee. “I want to thank the Rhode Island Foundation for quickly distributing these funds to 240 organizations throughout the state to help them as they continue to recover and grow out of the pandemic.”
The grants targeted organizations that experienced negative economic impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Foundation gave priority to community-based nonprofits serving communities where the need is highest. The Foundation announced the first $8.3 million in grants to 91 nonprofits last December. The final $11.7 million in grants were awarded to 149 organizations over the past four months.
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