Head Start/Early Head Start

Multiple locations and caring staff works within our many departments to provide comprehensive, coordinated care and case management.

Family Support and Services link

• WIC
• Healthy Families America and Love that Baby
• Parents as Teachers (PAT)
• Family Care Community Partnerships (FCCP)
• RIWorks

Childcare, Early Head Start and Head Start link

Learn to Earn youth summer employment  link

See website for information on all programs.

Comprehensive Community Action Program is a private, nonprofit community action agency formed under the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act.

CCAP is one of Rhode Island's largest organizations dedicated solely to fighting the war on poverty. Our professional staff provides a wide spectrum of services designed to help those in immediate need and empower anyone desiring to become more self-sufficient.
Additional information on locations link

Children's Friend & Service has extensive programs to support families in Rhode Island. Please see website for details. 
Programs include:
Early Head Start
Head Start
Child Care

Adoption Support and Preservation
Foster Care
Fatherhood Initiatives
Provider of Family Care Community Partnerships FCCP

Home Visiting Programs including:

First Connections
First Connections at Children’s Friend provides free, voluntary, confidential home visits in Central Falls, Cranston, Pawtucket and Providence to pregnant women and families with young children, birth to age three.
Healthy Families America

Healthy Families America is a national evidence-based maternal and child home visiting program that provides free, voluntary, confidential services. The program pairs expectant mothers or families with newborns with a Family Support Worker, who provides home visiting services to the family and their child until the child’s fourth birthday.

Nurse Family Partnership

Nurse-Family Partnership is a national evidence-based maternal and child home visiting program that provides free, voluntary, confidential services to expectant first-time mothers and then their newborns. The program pairs expectant mothers with a registered nurse, who provides intensive home visiting services to the mother and her child until the child’s second birthday.

Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program

WIC offices have temporarily moved to 153 Summer Street in Providence. Please call ahead to check hours. 401.752.7781 

Early Intervention at Children's Friend is listed separately in the directory. 

Children's Friend provides a comprehensive array of social services that strengthen families, are culturally relevant and support the healthy development of children.
Across Rhode Island, our staff provides services to help over 31,488 individuals annually.
Sites in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls, we provide a broad array of services for children and families.

Early Headstart

Meeting Street serves  eligible young children (birth to age 3) and their families in Providence, RI and  children in New Bedford, MA, through our Early Head Start programs. Our Program begins before birth with pregnant women to ensure they have access to comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care.

Healthy Families America

Healthy Families America is a national evidence-based maternal and child home visiting program that provides free, voluntary, confidential services. The program pairs expectant mothers or families with newborns (younger than two weeks old) with a Family Support Worker, who provides home visiting services to the family and their child until the child’s fourth birthday.

Olneyville Early Childhood Initiative

The goal of Meeting Street's Early Childhood Initiative in Olneyville is to prepare children in the Olneyville community to enter school healthy and ready to learn.

Early Learning Center 

An inclusive daycare for children of all abilities ages 6 weeks - 5 years 

Pre-K Program

The RI Pre-kindergarten Program is a state-funded program located on the Meeting Street Campus in Providence RI that provides free, high-quality pre-kindergarten classes to eligible children

Meeting Street is where children of all ages and abilities receive individualized attention from highly trained, dedicated educators, therapists, and staff who work as a team, sharing strategies and identifying solutions to bring out the best in each and every child.

At Meeting Street we believe in the power of inclusion and foster it in all we do. Our goal is to create an environment, and ultimately a world, where individuals of all abilities learn, play, work, and live together.

Information on Meeting Street Early Intervention Program and The Grace School are listed separately in the directory.

CCAP offers programs for children and their parents that focus on early childhood education and development, mental and physical health, safety, nutrition, family engagement, and parenting.

Programs include:

• Head Start
• Early Head Start
• Childcare programs

The Incredible Years-a training program for parents to address certain behaviors in children 2-7 years old.

Mon-Fri 7 am-5:30 pm

Comprehensive Community Action Program(CCAP) has several locations.

CCAP offers programs for children and their parents that focus on early childhood education and development, mental and physical health, safety, nutrition, family engagement, and parenting.

Programs include:

• Head Start
• Early Head Start

The Incredible Years-a training program for parents to address certain behaviors in children age 2-7 year old.

Mon-Fri 8:30 am-2:30 pm

Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) has several locations.

RI Department of Human Services oversees a number of programs to help individual and families in Rhode Island. A complete comprehensive list is on their website.

Childcare

Includes Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and Head Start link

Supplemental Nutrition Program SNAP

Medicaid and Medicare Programs

Includes Katie Beckett Katie Beckett is an eligibility category in Medicaid that allows certain children under age 19 who have long-term disabilities or complex medical needs to become eligible for Medicaid coverage.

The Sherlock Plan

Medicaid for Working People with Disabilities Program is a type of Medicaid eligibility for working adults with disabilities.

Medicare Premium Program

SSI State Supplemental Payment

Long Term Services and Supports

Includes Medicaid Long Term Care Supported Services (LTSS) and Enhanced Assisted Living Program for elderly and adults with disabilities.

RI Works Program

RI Works is a financial and employment assistance program for parents and families with little to no income who have children high school age or younger.

General Public Assistance Programs

Includes Bridge Fund, Hardship Program and Funeral/Burial Assistance 

Refugee Assistance Programs

Energy Assistance Programs

DHS' programs and services, including those offered by our four divisions, collectively serve more than 300,000 families, adults, children, older Rhode Islanders, individuals with disabilities and veterans each year. Each have their own eligibility requirements and our staff are happy to assist those who need us through the application process and any other needs. 

Office locations

The Providence Elmwood Avenue office has closed and a drop box is available at that office until Nov 30, 2021.

Drop box and forms are available at:

Office of Rehabilitation Services

40 Fountain Street 

Providence , RI 02903

Head Start Collaboration Offices (HSCOs) facilitate partnerships between Head Start agencies and other state entities that provide services to benefit low-income children and their families.

Head Start is a federally funded program created in 1965 in an effort to combat poverty. The program offers a wide range of services to low-income children aged three to five years old.

The Rhode Island Head Start State Collaboration Office (RIHSSCO) is located in the Rhode Island Department of Human Services. The Department of Child Care directly oversees the RIHSSCO within the Department of Human Services. The mission of the RIHSSCO is to provide early care and education services for children birth to 12 years.

OHS manages grant funding and oversees local agencies providing Head Start services. Head Start promotes school readiness of children under 5 from low-income families through education, health, social and other services.
Find a Head Start program by using the Head Start locator.