Groundwork Rhode Island (GWRI) is a community-based organization helping build healthier, more resilient, and more equitable urban communities in Rhode Island by improving the physical environment and creating economic opportunities for local residents through job training, employment, and social venture programs.

GWRI achieves our mission by leading a variety of urban stewardship programs and projects that train and employ lower-income Rhode Islanders, including those with past conviction records and youth. At the same time, GWRI works to physically improve our shared urban environment, especially in predominantly communities of color and lower-income communities in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. Our four core programs are: 1) Adult Job Training focusing on the environmental services sector (lead abatement, hazardous waste handling, wastewater treatment, sustainable landscaping); 2) GroundCorp, a landscaping social venture that hires graduates of the training program; 3) Harvest Cycle, a composting social venture that collects food scraps from paying customers and processes the scraps into compost, a nutrient-rich soil amendment, to grow food; and 4) Green Team, a youth employment program in summer and the academic year serving high schoolers in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. All of our programs seek to support local residents in the development of economic resources that improve their individual lives and communities, as well as improve both the natural and built environment.

GWRI runs the Ring Street Community Garden in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood and the Prairie Avenue Greenhouse in South Providence.