RIDE Announces $1.5 Million in AmeriCorps Grants

Published on Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Funding will support volunteer efforts at 12 organizations across the state

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) announced today the awarding of $1.5 million in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps and other national service programs. These grants will support 207 AmeriCorps members working with 12 organizations that tackle significant challenges in Rhode Island, such as food security and education.

“Service and volunteerism are the heart and soul of healthy communities, and Rhode Islanders clearly step up and deliver for theirs,” said Angélica Infante-Green, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. “I am extremely impressed by the work these grantees are doing to make our state and their local communities better for all of us. Congratulations to all.”

Grants were awarded to the following organizations:

• Accessing Home with NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley: Fifteen AmeriCorps members will work with housing agencies across the state to prevent evictions and ensure Rhode Islanders remain in or transition into safe, healthy, and affordable rental units.
• Attendance Improvement Matters with Family Service of Rhode Island: Twenty AmeriCorps members will increase school attendance and engagement by implementing the Walking School Bus and Check and Connect mentoring program in two Providence schools.
• Breakthrough Providence: Through a planning grant, Breakthrough Providence will develop an AmeriCorps program to address the academic achievement and college trajectory of Providence middle school students.
• College Advising Corps, Brown University: Twenty AmeriCorps members will provide in-school and summer college advising to high school students to increase the number of first-generation students entering and completing higher education.
• College Crusade: Through a planning grant, the College Crusade will develop an AmeriCorps program to address the scarcity of education professionals who possess the demographic, social, and cultural characteristics of students in urban Rhode Island and will provide services to students who are first generation and underrepresented in terms of higher education access and success.
• FabNewport: Twelve AmeriCorps members will increase K-12 school attendance and engagement by implementing the Check and Connect mentoring program and by providing afterschool and summer programs in Newport.
• Farm Fresh Rhode Island: Two AmeriCorps members will pilot a new effort to provide nutrition education in schools, teach culinary job skills, and distribute fresh vegetables to food pantries.
• Generations of Learning with Connecting for Children & Families: Twelve AmeriCorps members will address third grade reading by providing small-group tutoring and in-classroom and after-school support. Sixteen additional AmeriCorps members will provide summer learning programs for Woonsocket’s Pothier, Citizens, and Coleman Elementary Schools.
• The Learning Community Education Fellows Program: Ten AmeriCorps members will provide small group reading and math tutoring for K-8 students at The Learning Community, a public charter school serving students from Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Providence.
• Providence After School Alliance: Twenty AmeriCorps members will support five after-school sites by providing hands-on learning, homework help and general enrichment so that students more deeply engage with their school and academic success.
• Providence Children’s Museum: Through play-based learning, twenty AmeriCorps members will engage students and their families in creative design and STEM lessons, in addition to delivering afterschool math programs in partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs.
• Teach For America-Rhode Island: Sixty AmeriCorps members will commit to two years of teaching in Providence County to increase reading and STEM proficiency and ensure that more students in Rhode Island have access to a quality public education.

Every year, 75,000 AmeriCorps members serve through 21,000+ schools, nonprofits, and community and faith-based organizations across the country. This year marks the 25th anniversary of AmeriCorps. Since the program’s inception in 1994, more than 1 million AmeriCorps members have served. These members provided more than 1.5 billion hours of service and earned more than $3.6 billion in education scholarships, more than $1 billion of which has been used to pay back student debt.

To learn more or serve with one of the Rhode Island organizations listed above, visit www.ServeRhodeIsland.org/Join today.

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