In RI, shelter beds are accessed through Regional Access Points (RAPs). Start there — they do the intake and connect you to an open bed.
⚠️
After hours or sleeping outside? Call any RAP and leave a message, or call 2-1-1 (24/7). If you need a bed tonight, you can also go straight to a shelter and ask — they'll take you if there's space or point you to one that has it.
Source: RI Executive Office of Housing, updated May 2026. Always call first — hours and space change.
Food
Two kinds of help: hot meals served on the spot (soup kitchens), and food pantries that give you groceries to take with you.
Compiled from RI meal-site lists. Call before going — some sites close on certain weeks or holidays.
💡
How pantries work: they give you groceries to take home, not a hot meal. Most ask for basic household info on your first visit and many serve only certain zip codes — but everyone is welcome regardless of income or immigration status, and no one is turned away. Call before your first visit to check what to bring.
Find any pantry in RI
The RI Community Food Bank supplies 137+ pantries statewide. Their Food Finder maps the one nearest you with current hours.
Source: RI Community Food Bank network & FoodPantries.org, 2026. Hours change often — call first.
📋 Benefits
The main programs that put food, healthcare, and a little cash within reach. Being homeless does not disqualify you from any of these.
SNAP (food stamps)
Use SNAP for hot, prepared meals
If you're homeless, 60+, or disabled, the Restaurant Meals Program lets you buy hot food with your EBT — you're automatically eligible. Look for the "Fork & Knife / SNAP Restaurant Meals" sign.
Where: several RI Subway locations + Federal Hill Pizza (Providence).
Apply for SNAP
Apply online at healthyrhode.ri.gov, by phone, or in person at a DHS office. Bring a photo ID, Social Security number, and any proof of income (even if $0). No fixed address? Use a shelter address or general delivery.
Medicaid (including RIte Care) covers low-income adults, kids, seniors, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. If you qualify, you can enroll any time — no waiting for open enrollment. It's free or very low cost.
Apply through HealthSource RI — one application checks you for Medicaid and other coverage.
💡 Free in-person "navigators" can help you apply in your language
Cash assistance
RI Works & other cash aid
RI Works: monthly cash + job support for families with children. SSI/SSDI: monthly income if you have a disability that stops you from working. General Public Assistance: limited emergency cash for some adults.
DHS handles all of these — one call starts the conversation, and Legal Aid can help if you're denied.
Source: RI Dept. of Human Services, HealthSource RI, EOHHS, 2026. Call to confirm current rules.
🏠 Housing
Help to keep the housing you have, get back into housing, or fight an eviction. If you have nowhere tonight, use the 🛏️ Sleep tonight tab first.
⚠️
Facing eviction? Don't wait. Free legal help can sometimes stop it — but only if you act before the court date. Call RI Legal Services the day you get any court paper.
RIHousing — rent help & listings
The state housing agency. Rental assistance programs, affordable apartment listings, and help for first-time renters. Also runs HousingSearchRI, a free statewide listing of available units.
To get on the list for shelter, rapid re-housing, or permanent supportive housing in RI, you go through Coordinated Entry — same system as the Regional Access Points in the Sleep tab.
A HUD-approved housing counselor can help you find rent help and deal with landlords — free. Your local Community Action Agency may also have emergency funds.
Source: RIHousing, HUD, RI Coordinated Entry, 2026. Verify program availability by phone.
💼 Work
Free help finding a job, building skills, and getting back to work — including programs built for people rebuilding after hard times.
netWORKri Career Centers
Offices in Providence, Pawtucket, Wakefield, West Warwick, Woonsocket
RI's free one-stop career centers. Job listings, resume help, computers, interview prep, and job coaches — all at no cost, whether or not you're on benefits.
Free training and certification in culinary arts, building trades, customer service, CDL/trucking, and manufacturing. Built for adults rebuilding their lives — including after incarceration or homelessness.
Connects unemployed and underemployed Rhode Islanders directly to real jobs with employers who've committed to hiring — plus free training. They guide you through the whole hiring process.
A GED or finished diploma opens the door to far more jobs. RI's Adult Education Information Centers give free, one-on-one help to find a program and enroll — GED prep, English classes, and placement testing. Services in English and Spanish.
Adult Education Info Centers — by city
Providence: American Job Center, 50 Sims Ave (Tue 10–1); Providence Public Library, 150 Empire St (Wed 4–7, Sat 10–1)
Central Falls: RIC Workforce Hub, 934 Dexter St (Tue 5–8)
📞 Hours change around holidays — confirm before you go
Source: RI Dept. of Labor & Training, netWORKri, Amos House, SkillsRI, RI Adult Education (RIDE), 2026.
⚖️ Legal help
Free legal aid for low-income Rhode Islanders. They handle evictions, benefit denials, family law, and more — at no cost if you qualify.
Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS)
56 Pine St, Providence
The state's main free law firm for low-income people. Evictions & foreclosure defense, benefit denials (SNAP, RIte Care, SSI, unemployment), family law, domestic violence. Call them the day you get any eviction paper.
The RI Coalition to End Homelessness hosts a free legal clinic twice a month — divorce, custody, child support, understanding legal documents. By appointment, limited slots.
Source: RI Legal Services, Center for Justice, RI Disability Law Center, RI Coalition to End Homelessness, RI Bar Association, 2026. This is general info, not legal advice.
Health & dental
Free and low-cost care, including the safety-net dental clinics most people never hear about.
Free & low-cost dental
🦷
These are RI's "Dental Safety Net" providers — they treat people on Medicaid, low income, or uninsured. Most need an appointment, and some serve only certain groups (kids, adults, etc.). Always call first.
Providence area
Providence Community Health Centers — 335R Prairie Ave · 401-444-0430 · kids to 19 & pregnant women only at this site
PCHC / Crossroads — 160 Broad St · 401-444-0430 · adults only
Rhode Island Free Clinic — 655 Broad St · 401-274-6347 · uninsured only; meet social worker + primary-care exam first
Thundermist of Providence — 557 Broad St · 401-235-6838 · Wed only; HIV/Ryan White & transgender care
Samuels Sinclair Dental (RI Hospital) — 593 Eddy St · 401-444-5284 · special-needs adults + all kids
Pawtucket / Central Falls / North
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care — 210 Main St, Pawtucket & 1000 Broad St, Central Falls · 401-729-5239 · Mon–Fri 8–5; some Saturdays
Thundermist of West Warwick — 1219 Main St · 401-615-2804 · size-inclusive dental chair
Newport / South County / Block Island
East Bay CAP — 19 Broadway, Newport · 401-845-0564
Thundermist of South County — 1 River St, Wakefield · 401-783-5646
WellOne — 308 Callahan Rd, N. Kingstown (401-295-9706) & 35 Village Plaza Way, N. Scituate (401-647-6262)
Wood River Health — 823 Main St, Hope Valley · 401-539-2461 · also Block Island (2 Thu/month)
Woonsocket
Thundermist of Woonsocket — 25 John A. Cummings Way · 401-767-4161 · Mon–Thu 8–8, Fri 8–5
CCRI Dental Hygiene Clinic (cleanings)
1762 Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln
Offers: low-cost cleanings & preventive care (student clinic, during semesters)
📞 Call to schedule
Medical & mental health
Need a doctor or mental health care?
RI's community health centers (Thundermist, Providence Community Health Centers, Blackstone Valley, WellOne, and others above) serve everyone regardless of insurance or ability to pay — medical, not just dental.
528 North Main St, Providence · accepts Medicaid, Medicare & most insurance
A major RI behavioral-health organization — mental health and addiction treatment for adults, teens, and kids. Walk-in crisis stabilization, recovery programs, and the Home Base program built specifically for people who are chronically homeless with mental health and substance use needs, helping them find permanent housing.
📞 Ask about the Home Base program if you're homeless
Peer recovery & harm reduction
RICARES
166 Valley St, Suite 105, Providence · peer-led, non-judgmental
Rhode Island's recovery community organization — peer support groups, recovery coaching, and help finding recovery housing (they certify it statewide). Run by and for people in recovery, any pathway welcome.
Peer-led harm reduction, staffed entirely by people with lived experience. Free naloxone/Narcan, fentanyl test strips, clean supplies, HIV/Hep C testing, recovery support, and basic needs — plus dedicated support for sex workers and trans people. Anyone is welcome to stop in, rest, and talk.
Source: RI Dental Safety Net list, The Providence Center, RICARES, Project Weber/RENEW, + 211. Verify hours by phone.
Library & day space
Libraries are free, warm, open to everyone. Restrooms, computers, wifi, and staff who help you find resources — no questions asked. One library card works at all of them.
Find any RI library (official map)
Rhode Island has 48 public libraries across 73 locations, all in the Ocean State Libraries network. This official directory maps every one with current hours.
Cranston: Central Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Rd
Woonsocket: Harris Public Library, 1 Library St
Warwick: Central Library, 600 Sandy Ln
Newport: Newport Public Library, 300 Spring St
Central Falls: Adams Memorial Library, 1 Lincoln Ave
Every other RI town has one too — use the statewide map above.
Source: RI Office of Library & Information Services / Community Libraries of Providence, 2026. Hours vary by branch and season — check before a long trip.
🧥 Clothes & basics
Free clothing, a free phone to stay reachable, and personal hygiene supplies. Small things that make a real difference.
Free clothing
The Clothing Collaborative
100 Niantic Ave, Providence (+ East Providence, Westerly, Woonsocket)
Free work and professional clothing, shoes, and personal hygiene products for people in job training, school, or job searching. Seasonal clothing for men and women.
Usually through a referral from an agency you're working with — ask your case manager or a shelter.
Provides donated clothing, shoes, and linens to Rhode Islanders in need, directly and through partner agencies. Call 2-1-1 to find the nearest distribution.
Both serve people experiencing homelessness and distribute seasonal clothing — coats, gloves, boots — especially in winter. Amos House also serves meals daily.
Each winter, statewide coat drives distribute thousands of coats, hats, and blankets through shelters and community groups. Ask any shelter or call 2-1-1 when it gets cold.
Free phone (stay reachable)
📱
A phone is how you stay reachable for job calls, benefit appointments, and shelter callbacks. The federal Lifeline program gives a free phone + monthly minutes, data, and texts to people who qualify. People living in shelters are eligible — and being homeless is not a barrier.
How to get a free Lifeline phone
You qualify if you're on Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, or other assistance — or by income. Apply through a provider; they verify you through the national system. No address required for shelter residents.
Providers that give a free phone: Assurance Wireless, SafeLink, Life Wireless, TruConnect, Q Link.
⚠ One free phone per household. The old "ACP" internet program ended in 2024 — Lifeline is the active one.
Hygiene & personal care
Showers & hygiene
Shower to Empower brings free showers and hygiene supplies to different locations each weekday (see the 🛏️ Sleep tab for the daily schedule). Many shelters and day centers also offer showers and basic toiletries.
Hygiene supplies
The Clothing Collaborative (above) provides personal hygiene products. Soup kitchens, the Providence Rescue Mission, and day centers often hand out toiletry kits — soap, toothbrush, razors, feminine products. Ask at any meal site.
Source: Dorcas International / Clothing Collaborative, SVDP RI, House of Hope, Amos House, federal Lifeline program, 2026. Call before you go — supplies and referral rules change.
🧑 Youth (18–24)
The adult shelter system isn't built for young people — it assumes a rental history and family support you may not have. These programs exist just for you.
Foster Forward — Youth Drop-In Center
Ages 18–25 · Mon, Wed, Fri 10am–4pm
A welcoming place to get food, take a shower, grab clean clothes, do laundry, charge your phone, and get connected to housing, SNAP, and mental health support — no judgment.
Youth outreach workers who meet you where you are — in person or virtually — with immediate basics and help navigating resources.
Source: Foster Forward, Family Service of RI, House of Hope, 2026. Call to confirm hours.
🎖️ Veterans
You served. There's a network in Rhode Island built specifically to have your back — housing, benefits, health, and crisis support.
🆘
Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1 — 24/7, confidential, for you and your family. You can also text 838255.
Operation Stand Down RI
RI's primary nonprofit for homeless & at-risk veterans
Housing (transitional & permanent), rental assistance (SSVF), a veterans' food pantry and hygiene program, help with VA disability claims, employment, and free legal help through their LAW program.
Refugee resettlement and ongoing support — helping people find housing, healthcare, school, and work.
Women's Refugee Care
Support for refugee families from the African Great Lakes region (Congo, Burundi, Rwanda), with a focus on women and girls.
Know your rights
Everyone in the U.S. has certain rights regardless of immigration status. Health centers and many services serve you regardless of status and keep your information confidential. For legal questions, start with Dorcas International above.
Source: Dorcas International, RI DHS Refugee Resources, 2026. Call to confirm services.
🔑 Reentry after incarceration
Coming out with little is hard, and the system isn't built to make it easy. These organizations help you get housing, work, ID, and a real second chance.
OpenDoors RI
Pawtucket / statewide
RI's leading reentry organization: housing for people leaving prison, help with ID and documents, transportation, addiction recovery connections, and a dedicated women's reentry program.
A state ID is the first thing you need for work, benefits, and housing. OpenDoors and shelter Access Points both help with this. See also the 📋 Benefits and 🛏️ Sleep tabs.
Source: OpenDoors RI, Amos House, 2026. Call to confirm current programs.
Terms & disclaimer
In plain language. HOPE is a free tool to help you find resources in Rhode Island.
Information can change
We work to keep everything correct, but hours, phone numbers, and availability change often. Always call before you go. If you find something wrong, use the "Report a problem" button — it helps the next person.
We're not the service provider
HOPE helps you find services, but we don't run them, control them, or take responsibility for them. Each organization has its own rules, hours, and requirements.
Emergencies & "Save a life"
The emergency guide gives basic information, not medical training, and it does not replace 911. In any emergency, call 911 first. Consider taking a free CPR and naloxone class.
Bridge (the assistant)
Bridge uses HOPE's saved data but can make mistakes. Always verify important information by calling the place or 2-1-1.
Your privacy
HOPE requires no login or account and does not track your identity. When you report a problem or send feedback, it opens your email app — you only share your email if you choose to send it.
No guarantees
HOPE is provided "as is," without warranties. By using HOPE you agree that we're not liable for outdated or incorrect information, or for third-party services. Use your own judgment and stay safe.
Rhode Island was the first state in America to pass a Homeless Bill of Rights (2012). Being homeless does not take away your rights. Here's what you're owed, and what to do if it's violated.
📵
If police stop you: Stay calm. You can ask, "Am I free to go?" You have the right to remain silent and to say "I do not consent to a search." You don't have to answer questions about where you're going or sleeping. Keep your hands visible. Don't run, don't argue physically — even if they're wrong. Stay safe first; report after.
Your rights under RI law
The Homeless Bill of Rights
RIGL § 34-37.1-3 — you have the same rights as any other resident. Specifically:
🏛️ Public space: Use sidewalks, parks, transit, and public buildings. You cannot be told to "move along" just for how you look or for having belongings.
⚖️ Equal treatment by police, libraries, RIPTA, EMS, and all city/state agencies.
💼 Employment: An employer can't refuse to hire you just because your address is a shelter.
🏥 Emergency medical care cannot be denied because of your housing status.
🗳️ Vote: You can register and vote without a fixed address.
🔒 Privacy: Your belongings (backpack, tent) are protected from search/seizure under the 4th Amendment, like a home. Shelter and service records are confidential.
If your rights are violated
📝
Write it down as soon as you safely can: what happened, where, when. Get the officer's name, badge number, patrol car number, and any witness names or numbers. Photos or video help. The details fade fast — record them quickly.
Report police misconduct or excessive force
RI Attorney General — Civil Rights Unit
For excessive force, civil-rights violations, or hate crimes. They forward complaints for investigation and track patterns.
Submit a police-misconduct or discrimination complaint. They look for patterns of abuse even when they can't take every case. Complaints must be in writing (mail, email, or fax).
You have the same right to police protection as anyone. If you're the victim of a crime — assault, theft, harassment — you can report it and be taken seriously. If an officer refuses to help, document it and report that too, using the channels above.
In immediate danger, call 911. For crisis support, see the 🆘 Crisis tab.
Advocacy & support
RI Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP)
Led by people with lived experience of homelessness. Meetings Wednesdays 12–1pm, 134 Mathewson St, Providence. A place to be heard and to push for change.
Sources: ACLU of RI (Homeless Bill of Rights, updated April 2026), RI Attorney General's Office, City of Providence. This is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, contact the ACLU or a lawyer.
🚑 Save a life
Simple steps to help someone in an emergency until help arrives. Read these now, before you ever need them — in a real emergency there's no time to learn.
📞
Always call 911 first if you can. These steps help while you wait — they don't replace emergency responders. Rhode Island's Good Samaritan Law protects you from drug charges when you call 911 to save someone from an overdose.
Signs of an opioid overdose
• Won't wake up, even when you shout or rub their chest
• Slow, shallow, or stopped breathing — choking, gurgling, or snoring sounds
• Blue or gray lips and fingertips; very small "pinpoint" pupils
• Limp body
Try to wake them. Shout their name. Rub your knuckles hard on their breastbone (center of chest). Do not use ice or a cold shower — it doesn't work and can cause harm.
Call 911. Say "Someone is unresponsive and not breathing" and give your exact location. You're protected by the Good Samaritan Law.
Give naloxone (Narcan) if you have it. Spray it fully into one nostril. It only helps and never harms, even if you're not sure it's opioids.
Support their breathing. If trained, give rescue breaths. If not, follow the 911 operator. Naloxone works best when oxygen is getting in.
Wait 2–3 minutes. If no response and breathing hasn't returned, give a second dose of naloxone. Fentanyl often needs more than one.
Put them in the recovery position (on their side, face turned to the side) if you must step away, so they don't choke.
Stay with them. Naloxone wears off in 30–90 minutes and the overdose can return. Stay until help arrives, and they need medical care even if they wake up feeling fine.
Get free naloxone in RI
Naloxone is free at many RI pharmacies (no prescription needed) and harm-reduction programs. Carry it if you can — you could save a life, maybe your own friend's.
An adult collapses, won't respond, and isn't breathing (or only gasping). CPR keeps blood moving to the brain until help comes.
Check & call. Tap them, shout. No response and not breathing normally? Call 911 and put it on speaker. Ask someone to find an AED if one's nearby.
Position your hands. Kneel beside them. Put the heel of one hand in the center of the chest (on the breastbone), your other hand on top, fingers laced.
Push hard and fast. Press down at least 2 inches deep. Let the chest come all the way back up between pushes.
Keep the beat: about 100–120 pushes a minute — the rhythm of the song "Stayin' Alive." Don't stop.
Don't quit until they wake up, someone with training or an AED takes over, or paramedics arrive. If an AED arrives, turn it on and follow its spoken instructions.
Hands-only CPR (no mouth-to-mouth) is recommended for untrained bystanders helping an adult. For an overdose, breaths matter more — follow the 911 operator.
Signs of hypothermia
• Hard shivering (warning sign) — in severe cases shivering stops
Can happen even above 40°F if a person is wet or in the wind. It's a medical emergency.
Get them out of the cold. Indoors if possible; if not, shelter from wind and get them off the cold ground (put a blanket or cardboard underneath).
Remove wet clothing, replace with dry coats or blankets. Cover the head and neck too.
Warm the center first — chest, neck, groin — with dry blankets, skin-to-skin body heat, or an electric blanket. Wrap any hot pack in a towel first.
Do NOT rub arms or legs, and don't warm them too fast (no hot bath, no heat lamp). Rapid rewarming can stop the heart.
Warm, sweet, non-alcoholic drinks if they're awake and can swallow. Never give a drink to someone who's unconscious. No alcohol, no cigarettes.
Call 911 if their temperature is below 95°F, they're confused, or they lose consciousness. If they seem lifeless, still do CPR and keep warming — cold victims can be revived.
Prevent it
Layers of loose, dry clothing. Cover head, hands, feet. Stay dry — wet is the real danger. Keep moving. Get out of wind. On cold nights, use the 🛏️ Sleep tonight tab to find a warm bed, or 📚 Library for daytime warmth.
Heat stroke — signs
• Hot, red skin; may be dry or sweaty
• Confusion, slurred speech, passing out
• Fast pulse, throbbing headache, nausea
Heat stroke is life-threatening — act fast.
Call 911.
Move to shade or AC immediately.
Cool them fast: cool water on the skin, fan them, ice packs at the neck, armpits, and groin.
Sips of cool water only if they're fully awake and able to swallow.
Stay until help arrives.
On hot days, find AC at a 📚 library or cooling center, drink water often, and rest in shade.
Sources: CDC, SAMHSA, Mayo Clinic, American Red Cross (2024–2026). This is basic emergency guidance, not medical training. Taking a free CPR/naloxone class is the best way to be ready.
🌉 Bridge
Tell me what's happening in your own words. I know Rhode Island's shelters, meals, and benefits — I'll point you the right way. No judgment, ever.
Bridge uses HOPE's verified RI data. It can be wrong about hours or space — always call before you go.