RI Arts and Humanities Councils Award Nearly $1 Million in Grants with Federal Funds
Community Leaders Call for More Investment and Focus on Rhode Island’s Nonprofit Sector
Several community leaders — Mario Bueno of Progreso Latino, Anthony Hubbard of YouthBuild Preparatory Academy, Cortney Nicolato of United Way, and Daniel Schliefer of New Urban Arts — published a commentary piece in the Boston Globe on the importance of investing in the capacity and sustainability of the nonprofit sector.
Rhode Island can no longer overlook, and underfund, its nonprofit sector
Over the last 19 months, Rhode Island’s nonprofit organizations have been the heart, hands and feet of Rhode Island’s relief and recovery efforts. They provided food and shelter to Rhode Islanders in need. Helped underserved communities access testing and vaccines. Supported children and families with the challenges of distance learning. Provided physical and behavioral health care. Helped isolated seniors connect with loved ones and services. Provided support and training for small businesses and social entrepreneurs. Trained workers for new jobs. Uplifted somber days with beautiful music and art.
In some ways, the last year-and-a-half has been a story of unprecedented commitment and heroism. Faced with the confluence of health, economic, and racial justice crises, Rhode Island nonprofits rose to the challenge of skyrocketing need. At great personal and organizational cost, they overcame public health restrictions, inadequate staffing, physical and emotional exhaustion, and fundraising limitations to deliver services in innovative ways. They were a lifeline to thousands of Rhode Islanders during their darkest moments.
In other ways, the commitment and heroism displayed by our state’s nonprofits during the pandemic is completely normal. It is what happens when organizations are driven by mission and collective social benefit.
Every single day, pandemic or not, quiet, essential work is done across Rhode Island by nonprofit organizations. Skilled, dedicated, compassionate staff work with limited resources to care for our neighbors, empower our children, and build flourishing communities. Community-based organizations provide the expertise, energy, and innovation to make the state’s vision for strong, equitable, prosperous cities and towns a reality. Every. Single. Day.
And every day, whether in times of crisis or plenty, the state depends on these same nonprofits to make Rhode Island lives and communities better. Yet, at nearly every turn, this vital sector is under-resourced, stretched thin, and often taken for granted.
Like the steel beams that undergird our bridges, the crucial work of our state’s nonprofits is so integral to the health and well-being of our communities that it can easily be overlooked. But like our physical infrastructure, our “civic infrastructure” of unheralded nonprofits, collaborative networks, and community-based initiatives cannot continue to carry the weight of our state’s critical needs without comprehensive, long-term investment.
RI Arts and Humanities Councils Award Nearly $1 Million in Federal Funds to 121 Culture, Humanities, Arts Nonprofits
Some 121 RI culture, humanities and arts nonprofits have received grants from the RI Culture, Humanities and Arts Recovery Grant (RI CHARG) program, a historic collaborative partnership between the State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (Humanities Council). The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded $968,000 in assistance to Rhode Island from their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and is not part of the $1.1 billion in ARPA funding awarded to the state.
These federally appropriated cultural assistance funds administered by RISCA and the Humanities Council provide general operating support grants of $8,000 each to 121 culture, humanities, and arts nonprofits:
- 95% are small to midsize and/or Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) centered organizations;
- 65% are organizations based outside the city of Providence; and
- More than 25% are first-time grantees.
The Councils designed the RI CHARG program to help RI’s culture, humanities, and arts nonprofits prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from hardships suffered due to the pandemic. In keeping with federal agencies’ priority on equity, inclusion, and access efforts and supporting small- to mid-size organizations, the funding priorities were to support BIPOC centered organizations and nonprofits with annual budgets under $500,000.
A list of grant recipients is available at www.arts.ri.gov and www.rihumanities.org.
United Way Invests $175,000 in Olneyville
United Way of Rhode Island has awarded a total of $175,029 in grants to 12 nonprofits for their work to create long-term change in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence where United Way is located. The community investments were awarded from United Way’s special Olneyville Fund and focus on supporting the Lift United goals of its LIVE UNITED 2025 strategic plan to create opportunities for all Rhode Islanders.
A full list of grantee organizations is as follows:
- Amenity Aid
- Button Hole
- Children’s Friend and Service
- Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic
- Farm Fresh RI
- FirstWorks
- Girls Rock! RI
- Inspiring Minds
- Project Weber/RENEW
- Olneyville Branch: Providence Community Library
- Reach Out and Read RI
- YWCA Rhode Island
United Way established the Olneyville Community Fund in 2008 when it relocated to the neighborhood from the city’s East Side. Since, it has used the fund to invest more than $1.2 million to improve services for residents, increase the capacity of community-based organizations, and enhance public spaces.
Central Providence Resident Advisory Council awards $100,400 in Community Impact Fund grants
RI State Council on the Arts Awards 156 Grants Totaling Over $800,000
Over 150 arts organizations in Rhode Island received grants from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) totaling $878,942 in funding.
Funding for the grants came from the General Assembly and federal funds through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Most required a match of contributions from businesses, individuals, and from ticket sales.
Fifty two of the grants went to individual artists, and the rest went to arts and cultural organizations, arts education programs, teaching artists in healthcare and education, culture workers, and other community projects.
RISCA Distributes COVID-19 Relief Grants to Arts Community
The RI State Council on the Arts (RISCA) has awarded close to $1 million in Covid Relief Funds (CRF) to artists, professional arts education associations, and arts and culture organizations. These grants announced today provide badly needed assistance to organizations, artists and arts educators who continue to experience economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
or artists, the CRF assistance is being distributed through the Rhode Island Artist Relief Fund, a charitable fund set up by RISCA to help artists who have lost income due to the pandemic. A total of $321,200 was divided up into grants and distributed to 390 artists.
For arts and culture organizations, and arts education associations, the funds are being dispersed directly through RISCA.
In addition to artists, and arts and culture organizations, grant recipients include 11 organizations associated with the Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) and seven culturally specific nonprofits. RIEAP is a partnership among RISCA, RI Council for the Humanities (RICH) and Rhode Island Foundation to support community-based, culturally diverse arts and cultural organizations.
The grants were specifically designed to save jobs, help cover revenue losses and additional COVID-19 costs incurred in 2020.
State Arts Council Awards $750,000 in Grants to Artists, Arts Organizations
Arts and culture organizations, arts education programs, teaching artists in healthcare, folk artists and related community projects received $750,192 in grants distributed by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA). These 120 grants, approved by the Arts Council’s Board in December, will support arts and cultural activities throughout the state during this fiscal year.
These grants depend on support from the Rhode Island General Assembly and federally funded National Endowment for the Arts, in addition to matching dollars raised through contributions from businesses, individuals and earned income from ticket sales and admissions.
Rhode Island Foundation Awards $285,000 to Newport County Nonprofits
The Rhode Island Foundation’s Newport County Fund (NCF} offered grants of up $10,000 to 40 organizations in Newport County to develop new programs, to strengthen or expand established programs and for municipal planning or leadership. In making the funding decisions, the Foundation worked with an advisory committee comprised of residents from every community in Newport County. In total, $285,000 in grants were awarded.
“From protecting the environment to underwriting health and job readiness programs, we are fortunate to partner with organizations that are improving lives here in Newport County,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “We are thankful for the donors who make these partnerships possible.”
Awardees included Child & Family, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, Newport Mental Health, Aquidneck Community Table, Baby Steps, Books are Wings, Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport County, Clean Ocean Access, Day One in Middletown, Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England, God’s Community Garden, Island Moving Company, Jamestown Arts Center, Katie Brown Educational Program, Little Compton Community Center, Little Compton Historical Society, Meals on Wheels, MENTOR Rhode Island, Newport Community School, Newport County YMCA, Newport Gulls, the Newport Music Festival, the Newport Partnership for Families, Newport Working Cities, Rhode Island Black Storytellers, Salvation Army, Save The Bay, the Seamen’s Church Institute, Special Olympics Rhode Island, the Star Kids Scholarship Program, Turning Around Ministries, Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice, and Women’s Resource Center