The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) was awarded a $1 million grant to expand its skilled trade programs, the Lowe’s Foundation announced Friday.
The funding will allow CCRI to grow its electrical apprenticeship program, launched last November with funding from the state Department of Labor and Training, offering lessons in math, blueprints, financial literacy and other topics for aspiring construction workers.
The Lowe’s Foundation grant will also help energize the Ready to Build program, which focuses on construction and building trades in Rhode Island, which ranked among the three slowest states for new housing construction last year, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in May 2025.
Gov. Dan McKee proposed an $800,000 investment in the school’s pre-apprenticeship Ready to Build program in his fiscal 2026 budget. But it ultimately went unfunded in the final spending plan even as the Executive Office of Housing pursues a goal of building 15,000 new homes in the state over the next five years.
The grant money will be used to create lab spaces to increase capacity for CCRI classes as well as craft a credited program that combines a new construction management certificate with a degree program, the foundation said.
Rosemary A. Costigan, the president of CCRI, in a statement, called the grant “an extraordinary recognition” of the school’s commitment to building career paths for skilled tradespeople.
“With this investment, we will equip our students with the tools and technology they need to thrive — and help meet Rhode Island’s growing demand for a highly trained workforce,” Costigan said.
CCRI is one of 12 community colleges nationwide this year awarded a total of $7 million via the foundation’s Gable Grants program, and the only school in New England to receive one. In the 2024 grant cohort, Central Maine Community College won a $500,000 grant from the foundation.
The Lowe’s Foundation is an independent nonprofit created by the home improvement retail giant and was designed to infuse $50 million into community and technical schools over five years, with the goal of training 50,000 tradespeople. Grants have also been awarded to community and nationally based nonprofits. Since its inauguration round of grants in 2023, the initiative has deposited $43 million into education coffers in 28 states, with the aim of boosting education in fields like carpentry, construction, HVAC, electrical work, plumbing and property maintenance.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
