Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by ecoRI on March 18, 2026. Republished with permission.
Four nonprofits will receive some $8 million in grants to provide dental care for underserved Providence children through the Rhode Island attorney general’s 6/10 Children’s Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation.
The money comes from a 2025 settlement with a Massachusetts contractor that worked on the 6/10 Connector project and resolved a criminal case going back five years, with $10 million of the $11 million earmarked to improve the health of children living near the construction site.
Attorney General Peter Neronha said Barletta Heavy Division Inc. paid to resolve its violations of Rhode Island solid waste laws by illegally dumping more than 4,500 tons of contaminated fill during the construction of the Route 6/10 Interchange and then lying about it.
Barletta, a Canton, Mass.-based business, dumped contaminated fill from the Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station site on the border of Pawtucket and Central Falls and from a Barletta materials stockpile in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston.
The grants focus on Providence children, particularly young people from Olneyville, Silver Lake, and the West End.
“Focusing the services on neighborhoods where health disparities are high will close gaps in access to care [and] deliver lifelong benefits to the children and their families,” said David Cicilline, the Rhode Island Foundation’s president.
In the Providence zip codes of 02904, 02905, 02907, 02908, and 02909, only 41% of children and teenagers saw a dentist in 2023, compared to 54% of children in 02906 on the East Side of Providence, 61% in Barrington, 64% in East Greenwich, and 64% in 02921 in Western Cranston, according to Health Facts RI Public Reports by the Rhode Island Department of Health’s website.
The four organizations receiving grants are:
The Providence Community Health Center (PCHC) will receive $2.7 million over three years to support a partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) and Children’s Friend.
CCRI’s dental hygiene faculty and students will deliver mobile, school and community-based screenings and other care. Children’s Friend will connect families having difficulty accessing pediatric oral health care with PCHC for dental services. PCHC’s pediatric dental clinic, located on Prairie Avenue in Providence, has approximately 18,000 annual patient visits.
The Tri-County Community Action Agency will receive $2.5 million over three years to identify children with unmet dental needs and to care for them at its Pediatric Dental Center, the state’s only advanced pediatric dental education program, which provides specialized treatment for children with severe dental decay.
The Samuels Sinclair Dental Center in Providence will receive $2 million over three years to expand patient capacity through the addition of a dentist and dental assistants.
The Comprehensive Community Action Program will receive $725,000 over three years to build on its existing care model, school-based programs, and mobile dental services. CCAP will hire a bilingual provider, partner with pediatric practices, launch a bilingual media campaign, and expand outreach through community organizations and their dental community health workers.
Want to comment? Click!