Community Care Alliance

Community Care Alliance, doing business as Northern Rhode Island Community Service, is a Rhode Island-based nonprofit organization that acts as both a federal grant recipient and sub-recipient, delivering behavioral health services, homeless services, family support, tax preparation assistance, and community action programming to low-income and underserved populations across Rhode Island.

The organization is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and operates as a tax-exempt corporate entity. Community Care Alliance serves over 16,000 people annually through its combined behavioral health and community action programs, with service areas spanning northern and eastern Providence County and statewide initiatives. Its work centers on mental health and substance use treatment (including opioid use disorder, serious mental illness, and serious emotional disturbance in children), homeless prevention and transitional housing, family support services, youth employment and risky-behavior intervention, and free tax preparation for low-income taxpayers.

The organization's federal funding flows heavily through state administrative intermediaries. As of mid-2025, Community Care Alliance holds 79 total awards (prime and sub combined), split nearly evenly between 40 prime awards and 39 sub-awards. Award volume has accelerated in 2025 (26 awards year to date) compared to 6–9 awards per year in 2021–2024. The five largest funding channels by award count account for 78 percent of all awards and are split among the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (22 awards), the Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (20 awards), the Internal Revenue Service (8 awards), the Health Resources and Services Administration (7 awards), and the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 (5 awards, $1.2 million combined potential value).

Community Care Alliance's prime grant portfolio includes three major behavioral health initiatives: a $122,354 Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Matching Grant from the Internal Revenue Service (CFDA 21.009) effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026, providing free tax return preparation and filing to low- to moderate-income populations, persons with disabilities, and military families with at least 90 percent of returns serving individuals below EITC thresholds; a Continuum of Care (COC) Program grant from HUD spanning homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, and supportive services, with awards running March 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026; a four-year SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services grant (effective September 30, 2023, through September 29, 2027) supporting comprehensive community behavioral health center (CCBHC) operations with peer specialist services, complex care management, medicated-team programming, and emergency services access, targeting individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and co-occurring conditions; and a five-year SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment grant (effective June 30, 2023, through June 29, 2028) for the Youth and Family Tree program, which provides substance use and mental health services to youth and transitional-aged youth with family support including prevention, treatment, and basic needs assistance (food, rental, utilities).

Community Care Alliance functions as a sub-recipient on 39 awards channeled through Rhode Island state agencies, including the Department of Health (First Connections Family Home Visiting Services, Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting, overdose data initiatives, immunization support), the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (Ryan White HIV Care and Treatment Part B sub-awards for case management, transportation, nutrition, and emergency assistance), the Office of Energy Resources (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program awards), the Department of Human Services (homelessness prevention and drop-in services, community action and poverty reduction programming), and the Department of Public Safety (victim services for trauma-informed mental health and substance abuse counseling). A single Veterans Affairs contract vehicle (Indefinite Delivery Contract VA24113D0013) carries 3 task orders with $416 thousand combined potential value. Only 3 awards face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, indicating limited recompete exposure in the near term.

Community Care Alliance does not hold federal contracts. Its federal funding is exclusively grant-based, flowing through the Internal Revenue Service, HUD, SAMHSA, HRSA, and Veterans Affairs as prime grantee, and through Rhode Island state administrative agencies as sub-recipient. The organization's award portfolio reflects steady growth in state pass-through funding combined with recurring federal behavioral health and tax-assistance grants tied to low-income and homeless-services missions.