Shared Funds

RI Solidarity Fund
Six community-led relief efforts have developed a collaborative fund for community members and foundations seeking to contribute directly to frontline relief during the Coronavirus crisis.  Donations to the Rhode Island Solidarity Fund go directly to community organizations that are working nonstop to meet the needs of our community members who are most at risk of severe consequences in this crisis across Rhode Island. This ranges from low-income renters facing eviction to undocumented workers and people in prison.

 

Rhode Island Nonprofit Organizations Led By and/or Serving People of Color

A Sweet Creation
A Sweet Creation Youth Organization is a youth group to get youth from middle school to college active and involved in the community.  

A Leadership Journey
To provide students of color ages 13-18 from marginalized identities equitable access to international & domestic cultural exploration through travel, utilizing travel as the vehicle to discuss the importance of mental & emotional wellness, global citizenship, self awareness, leadership and ubuntu.

African Alliance of Rhode Island — AARI
AARI is dedicated to improving the lives of Africans living in the state of Rhode Island.

AMOR
AMOR is an alliance of grassroots organizations, providing community support in Rhode Island and southern New England for victims of hate crimes and state-sponsored violence.  AMOR organizes to place sovereignty back into the hands of communities directly affected by systemic oppression and build leadership, generate power, and organize resistance with and alongside all directly affected peoples.

ARISE — Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education
ARISE combines leadership training with community organizing to mobilize Southeast Asian and other Rhode Island youth of color for education justice.  

Billy Taylor House
The Billy Taylor House ignites the ambition of Providence’s most disconnected young people through enrichment, educational, and workforce development opportunities.

Black Heritage Society
As one of the oldest African heritage organizations in the country, the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society’s primary mission is the preservation of African Diaspora descendants’ historical artifacts — books, art, papers and images — and their history and accomplishments in Rhode Island, as well as the facilitation of interpretation efforts by those seeking to enlighten others about Black heritage. 

Black Lives Matter — BLM RI
BLM RI fights for justice, equality and empowerment for Blacks in Rhode Island and globally.

Breakthrough Providence
The mission of Breakthrough Providence is to create pathways to college for low-income, academically motivated middle and high school students in Providence Public Schools, and to encourage talented high school and college students to pursue careers in education.

CaneIWalk
CaneIWalk envisions an inclusive society where our youth with disabilities have access, support and confidence to reach their full potential.  Education, mentorship and community engagement is key to our vision for youth with disabilities to be empowered and inspired to succeed.

Center for Southeast Asians
The Center for Southeast Asians (CSEA) promotes the prosperity, heritage and leadership of Southeast Asians in Rhode Island.  CSEA provides support to not only Southeast Asians, but also refugees from countries such as Burma, Bhutan, Liberia and Nigeria in navigating governmental, healthcare, human services, legal, and financial services systems. 

Center for Youth and Community Leadership in Education — CYCLE
CYCLE partners with communities and schools to build capacity, alliances, and power, through learning, relationships, and organizing. We support youth, families, and educators to organize, fight for, and win policies and practices that create equitable opportunities and just outcomes for every student.

Community Action Partnership of Providence County
CAPP operates, promotes and supports the development of human service programs aimed at improving the lives of low-to-moderate income individuals and families living in Providence. CAPP works to minimize poverty while empowering members of the community to be self-sufficient.

Contemporary Theatre Company

Direct Action for Rights and Equality — DARE
DARE organizes Providence communities for social, political, and economic justice.

Diversity Talks
Diversity Talks increases cultural competency by fostering a healing space for those in power and those most marginalized to challenge the societal standards upholding white supremacy.

EcoArts USA
EcoArts USA supports arts, cultural, and educational exchange programs between artists of color from the United States and artists from Cuba by promoting their talent and creativity.

The Equity Institute
The Equity Institute develops innovative systems that cultivate culturally responsive schools and communities for all learners through organizational development, research, and networking.

Fuerza Laboral
Fuerza Laboral is a workers’ right center whose mission is develop leaders to confront social justice.

George Wiley Center
The George Wiley Center is a statewide group actively committed to local community organizing for the purpose of creating social and economic justice through changes in public policy.

Global Science and Envirotech
Global Science and Envirotech offers professional STEM education options from middle school to college and beyond.

Higher Ground International 
The organization’s twofold mission is to improve the lives of people living in the rural villages of West Africa, while providing meaningful opportunities for workforce and community development to the West African community living in Providence, RI, where the organization was founded. It provides basic supports and economic and educational opportunities to these communities, with an emphasis on empowering women, youth, and young adults as agents of change and self-determination.

Hope and Change for Haiti
Hope and Change for Haiti advocates for women and immigrant rights and promote cultural awareness and, in Haiti, the organization invests in community development with a focus on water, housing, and education in the rural of the country.

John Hope Settlement House
John Hope provides early learning, afterschool, summer, active living, food pantry and youth programs.

Korean-American Association of RI
The Korean American Association of Rhode Island was founded in 1975 with the desire to celebrate and share Korean Culture with Rhode Island.

Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee
The Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading celebrates the legacy of the renowned African-American poet. Langston Hughes whose poems, dating from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, continue to resonate today. 

Latino Policy Institute
The Latino Policy Institute works to stimulate public policy discourse by examining and communicating the evolving experiences of the Latino community in Rhode Island.

ManUp
ManUp provides a broad range of unique workforce development and higher educational opportunities, resources and support services to adult men of color, who have not been afforded the opportunity to aspire to more progressive goals; while simultaneously addressing the social, financial and legal issues that create barriers to employment and education. 

Manton Avenue Project
The Manton Avenue Project nurtures the unique potential of young people in Olneyville by unleashing their creative voices and uniting them with professional artists to create original theatre. 

Mixed Magic Theater
Mixed Magic brings diverse stories and images to the stage through prose and song, to build more literate and arts-active communities.

Movement Education Outdoors — MEO
MEO provides outdoor experiences and curriculum for community-based organizations serving youth of color and of limited economic resources.  MEO teaches youth to become mindful of their bodies, aware of indigenous history and engaged in the natural world.

NAACP — Providence, Newport
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ensures the political, educational, social, and economic equality of minority groups. The NAACP seeks to eliminate racial prejudice and remove all barriers of racial discrimination through advocacy, the electoral process, lobbying, litigation, organization, and protest.

Nonviolence Institute
The Nonviolence Institute teaches the principles and practices of nonviolence and fosters a community that addresses potentially violent situations with nonviolent solutions.

Oasis International
Oasis promotes and facilitates cultural activities, health and wellness, and community economic empowerment, with an emphasis on youth leadership development.  Oasis serves the African immigrant community and the low-income neighborhood of West End, Elmwood, Upper Southwest Providence, Lower Southwest Providence, and Washington Park. Through the exchange of technical information, general business assistance, and the promotion of cultural activities, OASIS seeks to address the limitations to capital and the lack of economic development in these communities.

Parents Leading for Educational Equity — PLEE
PLEE seeks for parents to be equal partners in the educational process to improve educational outcomes for their children.  PLEE creates opportunities for parents’ ideas for change to shape the direction of policy and funding priorities that best support the future of their children.

Princes 2 Kings
P2K is a youth health disparity program. The primary focus evolves around ensuring inner-city boys of color graduate from high school.

Progreso Latino
Progreso Latino helps Rhode Island’s Latino and immigrant communities to achieve greater self-sufficiency and socio-economic progress by providing transformational programs that support personal growth and social change.

Providence City Arts!
City Arts provides free arts education and training to more than 5,000 Providence elementary and middle school youth, most from the ethnically and culturally diverse neighborhoods on Providence’s Southside.

Providence Cultural Equity Initiative — PCEI
PCEI promotes, cultivates, and advocates for the cultural sector and economy of Rhode Island.

Providence Student Union
Providence Student Union builds student power to improve our education and well-being. We envision a true “union for students” that increases young people’s collective power and ensures our frustrations, demands, and dreams are heard. At PSU, young people grow as leaders, organizers, and advocates for justice in all forms, today and throughout their lives.

Providence World Music
Providence World Music is dedicated to increasing Rhode Island’s exposure to the diversity of traditional art, music, and cultural heritage from Africa and the world.

Providence Youth Student Movement — PrYSM
PrYSM mobilizes queer Southeast Asian youth, families, and allies to build grassroots power and organize collectively for social justice.

Pushed Learning
Pushed learning visits schools, nonprofits and other other organizations all over the East Coast and midwestern United States using performance, multimedia, and facilitated dialogue to foster conversation, engagement, and resiliency around inequality, oppression and identity.  

Reentry Campus Program
The Reentry Campus Program provides current and formerly incarcerated individuals with an affordable pathway to accredited post secondary education and certification programs, as well as support for the re-entry process.

Refugee Dream Center
The Refugee Dream Center enhances cultural and community development in the refugee community of Rhode Island. Refugees are given the opportunity to learn new skills, receive case management support and job training, and network in a diverse setting.

Rhode Island Black Business Association — RIBBA
RIBBA advances the business opportunities and vitality of Black-owned and minority businesses in Rhode Island, through access to capital, contracting, business development resources, entrepreneur training, business advocacy, meaningful investor services, and workforce development.

Rhode Island Black Storytellers — RIBS
Rhode Island Black Storytellers promotes the awareness, appreciation, and application of Black Storytelling in Rhode Island through performance, as well as through educational and cultural experiences. The organization offers professional development workshops in storytelling, writing, performance, communication and cultural awareness.  

Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program
Supported by a collaboration between Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA), and Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH), the Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) offers funding and organizational assistance to community-based, culturally diverse arts and cultural organizations.  It supports small organizations whose programs and missions center on the cultural practices and traditions of Rhode Island’s diverse peoples. RIEAP provides the skills and tools these organizations need to grow as equal partners in the Rhode Island arts and cultural community. Priority is given to newly-emerging groups and those with little history of grant funding. In seeking to build the capacity of these organizations, RIEAP recognizes the broader role they play in strengthening their communities including cultural preservation, education, and youth development.  Individual programs are listed below.

Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The RI Hispanic Chamber of Commerce represents, promotes and empowers the growing Hispanic business community.

RI Latino Arts
RI Latino Arts raises awareness and preserves Latino arts, heritage and cultures in Rhode Island and builds community pride.

Rhode Island School for Progressive Education — RISPE
RISPE is a teacher preparation program that seeks to diversify the Rhode Island teacher workforce and promote anti-racist education.  

Sankofa Community Connection
Sankofa increases pride of place within the African American Community of Newport County through a community-led initiative with  3 main focus areas — Community events and gatherings, Community Meetings where to discuss  the impact of institutional racism, racial oppression to provoke dialogue and solutions to the issues, and Historical Education to reveal, honor and celebrate the cultural heritage of African Americans of early Newport.

SISTA FIRE is co-creating a network of women of color to build our collective power for social, economic and political transformation. At the center of our work are SISTA Circles; through the circles we will provide space for deep interpersonal and leadership development.

Southside Cultural Center — SCCRI
SCCRI connects, cultivates and engages the Southside, West End, and Elmwood neighborhoods through the arts, nurtures the voices of artists of color, and cultivates leaders who lift up people in the community.

Stages of Freedom
The mission of Stages of Freedom is to provide youth of color access to swimming programs in order to reduce the numbers of drownings in the minority community; to build community by creating and providing programming about Black Rhode Island life and culture to a wide audience; and to educate and empower inner-city youth by providing cultural opportunities and access to museums and live performance.

Steam Box RI
The STEAM Box mission is to foster high-quality science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education.   We serve as a point of collaboration with internal and external partners on projects to improve STEAM synergy and opportunities for youth. Partnerships are geared to ultimately prepare our students in becoming the nation’s new innovative, creative, critical and analytical thinkers. 

SunRise Forever
SunRise provides humanitarian, educational and developmental activities in Rhode Island and Liberia.  

Teatro ECAS
Teatro ECAS is the largest Spanish language theater company in New England with the mission of promoting theater as a viable form of self-discovery, within an urban multicultural community, with particular emphasis on children and young adults. 

Tomaquag Museum
Rhode Island’s only indigenous museum dedicated to sharing the culture, arts and history from the first person perspective of tribal communities in Southern New England.  

West Elmwood Housing Corporation
WEHDC promotes the development of healthy, sustainable communities through housing services to help individuals and neighborhoods meet their affordable housing needs in the West End neighborhood and other parts of Providence and Rhode Island.  WEHDC offers a variety of programs and services related to real estate development, economic development, home ownership development, including lending and community building and organizing and through strategic alliances.

Women’s Refugee Care — WRC
WRC’s mission is to facilitate the transition for African refugee families to life in the United States by helping them to become self-sufficient and productive members of society, while maintaining their cultural and ethnic identity.  WRC promotes the rights of refugees through advocacy and action.

Young Voices 
Young Voices transforms urban youth into powerful advocates, who partner with the state’s leaders to create systemic reform and policy change to improve the lives of youth across the state.

Youth in Action
YIA creates opportunities for youth to become their best selves, to address power imbalances that stifle the potential of poor youth and young people of color, and to create more caring and fair public institutions and systems.

Youth Restoration Project — YRP
YRP is a Rhode-Island based training and consulting group working with organizations to help them build interpersonal cultures where all people feel heard – where young and older, bosses and employees collaborate effectively, trust each other and their community, and have confidence they can handle conflict constructively.

YouthBuild Preparatory Academy
YouthBuild Prep Academy provides a liberating educational experience to all students, with a focus on engaging young men of color, preparing them to be confident, civically engaged leaders.

 

RI EXPANSION ARTS ALUMNI 

This list is offered as a community resource.  Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement of any organization, program, or leader.