WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate yesterday approved 57-35, a year-end appropriations bill that U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse said will provide critical federal support for a wide range of projects and programs throughout Rhode Island. The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives 221-202 on December 10 and will now go to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
“This has been a difficult fiscal year, but I am pleased to have secured these crucial investments to help create jobs and strengthen Rhode Island’s economy. This appropriations bill makes critical investments in education, health care, and energy efficiency, priorities that were often overlooked and underfunded during the Bush Administration. These investments will help grow our economy, improve our infrastructure, and save and create good paying jobs in Rhode Island and nationwide,” said Reed, who serves on several key Appropriations Subcommittees, and to date, has secured a total of over $113 million for Rhode Island in appropriations funding for fiscal year 2010.
“As Rhode Islanders suffer through these difficult economic times, this funding will help keep jobs in our state and make critical investments in our long-term fiscal stability,” said Whitehouse. “I was proud to work with Senator Reed to secure these funds to help put Rhode Islanders back to work and help our economic recovery.”
The Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act includes six spending bills which were packaged together due to Republican objections to moving them independently: Commerce-Justice-Science; Financial Services; Labor-HHS bill; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (VA); State-Foreign Operations; and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Five other FY10 spending bills already passed earlier this year as stand-alone bills, including: the Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA bill; Department of Homeland Security bill; Energy and Water Development bill; Interior-Environment bill; and the Legislative branch bill.
The FY10 Department of Defense spending bill is also scheduled to be taken up before the end of this year.
The Fiscal Year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act includes funding for the following Rhode Island programs:
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, AND SCIENCE: $6 Million for Rhode Island projects.
Senator Reed is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science.
Rhode Island Consortium for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
$1,250,000
The University of Rhode Island (URI) will use this funding for a nanotechnology consortium with Brown University. The consortium will focus on advances in the synthesis and manufacturing of nanomaterials. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Providence Police Department’s Gun Violence and Gang Reduction Initiative
$1,000,000
The Providence Police Department will use this funding for its Gun Violence and Gang Reduction Initiative. These funds will expand intervention efforts that specifically address gun-related violence and gang activity occurring in the city. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Save the Bay’s Marine Education Program
$1,000,000
Save the Bay will use this funding for its Narragansett Bay Marine Education Program. Save the Bay, southeastern New England’s largest environmental organization, provides both classroom and on the Bay experiences to youth and adults with limited economic and educational resources. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation
$600,000
The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, located at URI’s East Farm campus, will use this funding to undertake collaborative research and to offer technical assistance to local fishermen. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Narragansett Bay Shellfish Habitat Restoration Project
$500,000
Roger Williams University of Bristol will use this funding to expand its Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement (OGRE) Program, which works to reestablish naturalized oyster beds in Narragansett Bay. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Ocean Tides School’s School-to-Work Training for At-Risk Youths
$500,000
Ocean Tides School of Narragansett will use this funding for a school-to-work program. The school has been instrumental in turning around the lives of court adjudicated young men and providing direction toward vocational and/or college acceptance. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership
$400,000
The Chamber Education Foundation of Warwick will use this funding to help expand the Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership Program statewide to 2,000 additional at-risk youths. The Partnership will help local programs develop and enhance quality mentoring relationships by matching additional at-risk youth statewide with mentors who are properly screened and trained. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence’s Nonviolence Streetworker Program
$300,000
The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence (ISPN) will use this funding to support its Nonviolence Streetworker Program, which provides outreach and mentoring for youth at high risk of joining gangs or committing violent offenses. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Day One’s Child Advocacy Center
$250,000
Day One of Providence will use this funding for its Rhode Island Children’s Advocacy Center, which provides evaluation, evidence gathering and treatment services to child victims of sexual abuse and their non-offending family members. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Big Brothers of Rhode Island
$100,000
Big Brothers of Rhode Island, based in East Providence, will use this funding to help match 60 fatherless boys, ages 7 to 18, from low-income, single-parent families statewide with Big Brother mentors and professional social services. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Burrillville Police Department’s Emergency Operations Center
$100,000
The Town of Burrillville will use this funding to outfit a new Emergency Operations Center that will serve as the hub of any planned response to emergency situations. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
FINANCIAL SERVICES: $450,000 for Rhode Island projects.
Rhode Island Center for Life Sciences, Research, Development and Commercialization
$300,000
The City of Providence will use this funding for a planning, site selection, and economic study to support preliminary scoping and design for the creation of the Rhode Island Center for Life Sciences, Research, Development and Commercialization in the city’s Jewelry District. The proposed center is part of the “Knowledge District” effort and will support research and development capacities in the life sciences, particularly in the areas of human disease research, vaccine and drug development, bioprocess research, and biomedical-oriented life sciences. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
Partnership for Sustainable Design/Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
$150,000
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and Brown University will use this funding for a collaboration between their two small business development assistance efforts. Senator Reed secured this funding with Rhode Island’s delegation.
LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION: $4.6 Million for Rhode Island projects.
Senator Reed is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.
Meeting Street’s Project PRIME
$900,000
Meeting Street, a community organization that helps children with multiple and severe developmental challenges, will use this funding for Project PRIME (Preparing Rhode Island’s Most Vulnerable Children Through Meeting Street Excellence). Through Project PRIME, Meeting Street will launch a full-service early childhood development program to help improve physical, intellectual, and social outcomes for high-risk children. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation
$500,000
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation will use this funding to establish a job training program in the use of composites and modern materials in manufacturing for the marine, energy, construction, and defense industries. The project will benefit businesses in Rhode Island that must have qualified technicians, and it will help entry level and unemployed people who need retraining to meet new job demands. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care Inc.
$500,000
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care (BVCHC), a free-standing, not-for profit, federally funded community health center serving low income and uninsured residents of Pawtucket and Central Falls, has recently undertaken a significant facilities expansion program. Federal funding will support phase two of BVCHC’s expansion, which calls for the construction of a new, 30,000 square foot health clinic to replace the aging John Cunningham, MD Health Clinic located at 42 Park Place. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Salve Regina University’s Blackstone Valley Workforce Training Initiative
$500,000
Salve Regina University will use this funding to expand its Blackstone Valley Workforce Training Initiative in Pawtucket. The facility provides educational opportunities, particularly in the field of nursing, in underserved northern Rhode Island communities. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Providence Community Health Centers
$400,000
Providence Community Health Centers (PCHC) will use this funding for construction of a new Urgent Care facility to complement its existing health center locations throughout Providence. The new facility will provide much-needed urgent care services to PCHC’s patients. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
Connecting for Children and Families
$300,000
Connecting for Children and Families of Woonsocket will use this funding to implement the Woonsocket Center for Working Families. This project will work to provide access to a suite of services to help support families, including workforce development, family economic support services, and community development investments. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Northwest Community Health Care
$200,000
Northwest Community Health Care will use this funding to expand its facilities to accommodate increased demand. Northwest serves the communities of Burrillville, Smithfield, Scituate, Foster and Glocester providing care to over 8,000 patients a year, regardless of their ability to pay. Since the original Northwest medical building was last modernized nearly 20 years ago, the patient load has more than tripled. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Rhode Island College Foundation
$200,000
The Rhode Island College Foundation will use this funding for technology improvements to Rhode Island College’s largest science lecture hall. Funding will support the replacement of the hall’s presentation and communications technologies, which are obsolete or in operable. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Thundermist Health Center
$200,000
Thundermist Health Center will use this funding to establish a fitness and wellness program to reduce childhood obesity and improve the health of middle school and high school students in Woonsocket and West Warwick. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Wood River Health Services Inc.
$200,000
Wood River Health Services Inc., a community health center, will use this funding to establish a satellite office in Westerly to provide affordable, primary health care to area residents who are unable to travel to its main office. The satellite office will provide primary health care services with two health care providers and support staff for approximately 3,800 patients. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Butler Hospital
$200,000
Butler Hospital will use this funding for equipment to establish the Butler Hospital Center for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics in Alzheimer’s disease. This center will combine an advanced brain imaging laboratory, an infusion center, and a functional outcomes laboratory to improve early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Community College of Rhode Island’s College Now Pilot Project
$200,000
Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) will use this funding to expand its successful College Now pilot project to urban high schools across the state. The project currently engages targeted, under-prepared high school students at Central Falls High School and Davies Technical and Vocational High School through dual enrollment that offers high school and college credit, focusing on career tracks that encourage long-term retention and graduation. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Brown University Medical Simulation Laboratory
$116,000
Brown University will use this funding for facilities and equipment for its planned medical education building, a key part of the redevelopment of Providence’s Jewelry District. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
City Year, Inc
$100,000
City Year Rhode Island will use this funding to expand the capacity of its “Whole School Whole Child Initiative,” a school-based strategy that aims to improve the conditions that lead to student success and increased graduation rates. Funding would focus on middle school students, supporting mentoring for 65 at-risk students, providing in-class assistance to at least 200 students, and providing City Year-led after school programming for 325 students. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
Rhode Island Hospital
$100,000
Rhode Island Hospital will use this funding to develop and deploy a patient tracking system to improve hospital surge capacity, emergency care system capability, and preparedness for public health emergencies. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS: $82.3 Million for Rhode Island projects.
Senator Reed is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Administration and Related Agencies.
Naval Station Newport Officer Training Command Quarters
$45,800,000
This funding will be used for the construction of a new building to house Officer Training Command students and provide administrative space for command and support staff. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Naval Station Newport Army Reserve Centers Consolidation
$17,500,000
This funding will consolidate the Bristol, Harwood, and Warwick Army Reserve Centers into one facility at Naval Station Newport, as directed during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Naval Station Newport Senior Enlisted Academy
$10,550,000
This funding will be used to renovate Tomich Hall, which is used by the Senior Enlisted Academy (SEA). These repairs will prevent the continued deterioration of the facility and ensure adequate living conditions for SEA students. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Naval Station Newport Perry Hall
$8,530,000
This funding will be used for renovations to Perry Hall to provide training space for the Naval Academy Preparatory School. Senator Reed worked with Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: $6.8 Million for Rhode Island projects.
Pawtucket River Bridge Replacement
$2,266,200
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will use this funding for the replacement of the Pawtucket River Bridge. The bridge is currently posted with a weight limit of 18 tons. The weight limit, while necessary for public safety, is a major impediment to commercial traffic in Rhode Island and in the region, making timely replacement of the bridge critical. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Street Paving in North Providence
$900,000
The Town of North Providence will use this funding to upgrade the transportation system with paving and other road improvements. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Street Paving in North Providence
$779,200
The City of Providence, which is responsible for the maintenance of 370 miles of paved streets, will use this funding to make much-needed pavement repairs across the city. Senator Reed worked with Rhode Island’s delegation to secure this funding.
Amos House Training and Support Center
$730,500
Amos House, a nonprofit social services organization serving poor, homeless, unemployed, and underemployed Rhode Islanders, will use this funding to build a new Works Training and Support Center. The center will have expanded classroom space for carpentry and culinary arts job training, literacy programs, and two micro-businesses. It will also create an upgraded dining hall. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
RIPTA Bus Replacement Program
$487,000
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) will use this funding for its statewide bus replacement program, which is an ongoing project. The newer vehicles will be more fuel-efficient, helping RIPTA rein in costs as fuel prices rise. Senator Reed worked with Congressman Kennedy and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
Newport Cliff Walk Restoration
$487,000
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and the City of Newport will use this funding for the restoration of Newport’s Cliff Walk. Funding will preserve the sections damaged by hurricanes and other storms over the last decade. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Kennedy to secure this funding.
Tides Family Services, Inc.
$340,900
Tides Family Services of West Warwick will use this funding for building renovations in order to serve an additional 50 youths and families at the request of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. Tides helps at-risk youth transition from the State Training School back to their homes and neighborhoods and provides intensive peer, individual, and group counseling to high-risk young people. Senator Reed secured this funding.
Westerly Area Rest Meals (WARM Inc.)
$292,200
Westerly Area Rest Meals (WARM Inc.) will use this funding to renovate a portion of WARM’s 54 Spruce Street location to include a commercial kitchen and a 70-seat dining area to accommodate the needs of the Community Soup Kitchen program. The current kitchen and dining area cannot meet the demand for services. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse to secure this funding.
North Kingstown Senior Center
$292,200
The Town of North Kingstown will use this funding to replace the North Kingstown Senior Center, which has outgrown its space. The center provides senior nutrition and transportation programs, social and recreational activities, health promotion and screenings, case management, physical activity programs, volunteer services, educational programming, and information and referral services. Senator Reed worked with Senator Whitehouse and Congressman Langevin to secure this funding.
Pawtucket Public Library Improvements
$243,000
The City of Pawtucket will use this funding for improvements to the Pawtucket Public Library. The library is comprised of two historic buildings, the Deborah Cook Sayles Building and the former post office, which face threats to their historic integrity and ability to meet users’ needs. Funding will allow the library to maintain its existing facilities and continue to provide the staffing and funding for its various programs. Senator Reed secured this funding.
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