East Providence Nonprofits Awarded $2.5 Million in Grants by Rhode Island Foundation

East Providence, RI -- The Rhode Island Foundation awarded $2.5 million in grants to East Providence nonprofits in 2025, helping push the organization to the best year of grant-making in its 109-year history.

Thanks to funding for the East Providence Library, the East Bay Community Action Program, Foster Forward, the R.I. Community Pet Project, The Elisha Project and Good Neighbors among other local nonprofits, the city received more funding that all but four other communities in Rhode Island.

Foster Forward received $30,000 to expand overdose prevention, addiction treatment referrals and recovery-oriented services at its Youth Drop-In Center in East Providence. In 2024, 180 youth received help through the center, where they can engage with a full-time clinician and a peer support specialist with lived experience of foster care and homelessness.

“Our center is a trusted space where youth experiencing housing instability can find food, showers, clothing and peer and clinical support. It is a vital bridge for youth navigating complex trauma, substance use and disconnection from systems of care,” said Lisa Guillette, Foster Forward’s executive director.

The R.I. Community Pet Project received $58,000 to provide veterinary care exclusively for the pets of Rhode Islanders who receive governmental financial assistance.

"While some of these medical procedures will actually save the patients’ lives and some will alleviate pain, such as treatments for dental abscesses, our primary goal is to provide as many affordable surgical and dental procedures possible for our patients and their families," said Dr. Hank Wietsma, the Project's president.

Statewide, the Rhode Island Foundation awarded a record-breaking $93 million in grants to more than 2,600 nonprofit organizations last year, which saw the organization launch its new Five-Year Action Plan. 

“Our work last year reflects what the community identified as their priorities and what they saw as the biggest challenges in areas where we could play a deeper role than what we were playing,” said David N. Cicilline, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “We are grateful to the generous Rhode Islanders who trust us to guide their philanthropy and to the committed community partners that enable us to take on these challenges.”   

The Action Plan focuses on five key Community Priorities: Civic and Cultural Life, Climate Action and Sustainability, Education and Student Success, Healthy and Strong Communities, and Housing and Economic Mobility, guided by inclusiveness, accessibility, compassion, mutual respect and humility. In addition, the Foundation introduced three enhanced grant programs: Community Priority Grants, Catalyst Grants and Capacity Building Grants.

In addition to record-setting grant-making, the Foundation raised $82 million in gifts in 2025, its third best year ever.

In addition to grantmaking and fundraising, community leadership is central to the Foundation’s work. In 2025, the Foundation raised $723,000 for its Civic Leadership Fund. This annual fund enables the Foundation to go beyond traditional grant-making to work with community partners and decision-makers to solve critical challenges.

“Our donors understand that responsiveness requires flexibility, innovation and the resources to take on pressing issues as they arise. Their generosity enabled us to ramp up initiatives like the Blue Ribbon Commission that developed recommendations for improving Rhode Island’s school funding formula,” said Cicilline.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Through civic leadership, fundraising and grant-making activities, together with neighbors and partners, the Foundation is helping to create progress that lasts. For more information, visit  www.rifoundation.org