At a time when families across the country are feeling the pinch and tightening budgets, the United Way of Rhode Island has announced that it will distribute more than $1.6 million in grants to community organizations charged with helping those who need it most.

“The grant money is going to agencies, which will help Rhode Islanders make responsible fiscal decisions, plan for a financial future and maintain savings,” explained Anthony Maione, president and CEO of UWRI, in a release last week.

UWRI began the initiative in 2007 with two summits that hosted community stakeholders and nonprofit leaders. Ultimately, the choice among applications was left to the United Way’s volunteer review committee. A total of 33 organizations applied but only nine made the cut for the financial stability grants, including the Comprehensive Community Action Program, Education in Action and Johnston-based Tri-Town Community Action.

“These nine agencies have strong programs that help middle- and lower-income individuals and families achieve financial independence,” said Allan Stein, executive vice president of Community Investment and Public Policy.

For Tri-Town, the grant of $70,000 a year for three years will mean two additional employees to their ranks of social service professionals. Of the two case managers, one will be assigned to the Johnston Tri-Town and the other will work at the South County Community Action Agency, which is also managed by Tri-Town.

“They’re really going to be working closely with families primarily,” said Tri-Town CEO Joseph DeSantis. “We’re going to do a very comprehensive intake process so we can identify where their problems are and work with them toward achieving their financial goals.”

The buzz term for DeSantis is “self-sufficiency.” He wants to help families get back on their feet, and said the case managers would go over everything from budgets to health care.

“Given the economy, it’s simply an overwhelming time. We are completely overwhelmed with all kinds of requests for assistance,” he said.

Another aspect of the case managers’ responsibilities will come with connecting clients to other services within Tri-Town. DeSantis said the individuals will be both coaches and advocates, plugging families into health care, job training and higher education services, among other things.

“We’re doing everything we can to generate the maximum feasible revenue for families,” he said.

The total funding for Tri-Town amounts to $210,000, though DeSantis added that if the program is still necessary in three years, the organization would solicit additional sources of funding.

At the Cranston-based CCAP, the grant adds up to $195,000. The first allotment will come in January of 2010. They too plan to hire a financial case manager.

“We’ll offer it to anybody who walks through any program at CCAP,” said CCAP Executive Director Joanne McGunagle.

The majority of the grant will be used for salary for the additional employee, with the remainder for curriculum and support of the financial literacy counseling.

Now more than ever, McGunagle thinks this financial piece is crucial to social services.

“I think it’s really necessary at this stage in the game. A lot of people who traditionally didn’t think they needed our services are coming in,” she said, touching upon the state of the economy.

With Tri-Town and CCAP focusing on heads of households, fellow recipient Education in Action trains young people in financial literacy. Through their Exchange City program, students – particularly those from low-income areas – visit the Johnson & Wales campus for a 16,000-square-foot city where they take on one of 150 simulated roles like mayor or businessman.

With money stretched in schools, however, the organization has found many schools are giving up on programs like Exchange City. In the past, school-based coordinators were in charge of coordinating the relationship between schools and Education in Action. Those resources are no longer available.

“One of the things we have come to find with the increasing demands on classroom educators and also the increase in standards for education, is there’s not as much support for educators in reference to programs that are not constituted within the typical class day,” said Ed Pacheco, executive director of Education in Action.

The grant funding will enable Pacheco, through an initiative he calls Operation Classroom, to bring Exchange City to more middle school students across the state.

Although Education in Action will only receive $60,000, Pacheco said that will be a major boost for a group that has three full-time and three part-time employees.

“In times past we’ve actually relied 100 percent on the teachers so this grant will make it possible for us, as a small nonprofit, to make direct impact throughout Rhode Island,” he said. “It’s a big win for us and it’s going to help in so many ways.”

Looking ahead, Pacheco added that he, like the other grant recipients, could use the boost as a testimonial of sorts to show that the grassroots work being done by community agencies is gaining attention from donors.

“For us to be able to go out to other potential funders and say, ‘Look, United Way is supporting us; we hope you’ll consider supporting us too,’ that kind of leverage is huge,” Pacheco said. “I know the work we do each and every day has an impact on kids and United Way obviously recognized that.”