NEW: New AmeriCorps Funding to Boost Local Non-Profits
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Rhode Island is receiving $1.2 million in new AmeriCorps money to help fund non-profits in the state, Gov. Lincoln Chafee and U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse announced Thursday.
Five programs will share the money, which will support more than 100 AmeriCorps positions in the Ocean State. Rhode Island was one of only six states nationwide to see AmeriCorps funding grow this year.
"This is a great investment in the future of our state, our communities and our nation," Reed told reporters Thursday. He said Rhode Island overcame steep competition from other states and cuts in available funding to secure the money.
Local Non-Profits to Benefit
The Providence Plan will receive over $450,000 to improve literacy among underserved pre-school students and prepare them for elementary school. More than $200,000 is going to The Institute for the Study and Practice Nonviolence to promote non-violence in high-crime schools and communities. Save the Bay Inc. will also get over $200,000 to provide environmental education programs. Brown University will get almost $190,000 to give college counseling to low-income students and first-generation immigrants. Providence Children's Museum will get over $170,000 to provide academic help to low-income pre-school and elementary school students.
"Environmental education, child readiness for school, greater access to college for our urban high school students and gang violence prevention and non-violence education are all very important to our state's health and wellbeing, and vital for our future," Chafee said.
The other states to see increased Americorps funding this year were Ohio, Georgia, Oklahoma, Arkansas and South Carolina.
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