The Rhode Island Center For Justice

What The Rhode Island Center For Justice does

The Rhode Island Center for Justice is a nonprofit public interest law center founded in 2017 and headquartered at 1 Empire Plaza in Providence, Rhode Island, with a staff of approximately 15-20 including an Executive Director, Senior Supervising Attorneys, Supervising Attorneys, Staff Attorneys, Paralegals/Housing Advocates, and Roger Williams University School of Law Legal Fellows. The organization provides free civil legal representation exclusively through partnerships with community groups (Fuerza Laboral, Jobs with Justice, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, George Wiley Center, Homes RI, Youth in Action, PrYSM, ARISE, Providence Student Union) across six primary practice areas: housing (Tenant Advocacy Project, bi-monthly clinics), immigration (Family Preparedness Plan bilingual website, DACA support), education rights (federal class action Cook v. Raimondo, special education PLEE v. PPSD), workers' rights (Workers' Cooperative Bill advocacy, earned sick leave), criminal justice reform (court costs elimination legislation), and utility shutoff prevention (RI Public Utilities Commission dockets).

The Center generates no revenue from client fees — all services are free to qualifying low-income Rhode Islanders — and is funded through a mix of individual donations (collected via a Neon One CRM donation portal), foundation and corporate grants (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island BlueAngel Community Health Grant, Cox Communications Tech Boost), and community partnerships. It runs a flagship two-year postgraduate fellowship with Roger Williams University School of Law that trains recent graduates as staff attorneys, alongside law student externships and Alternative Spring Break programs. Distribution is community-led: clients access services via coalition referrals, community-based legal clinics, phone intake at (401) 491-1101, and in-person consultations by appointment only, supplemented by a self-serve resource library including the bilingual Family Preparedness Plan and the 2024 Landlord-Tenant Handbook. There is no proprietary technology platform; legal work is conducted through conventional case-management and office productivity tools.

Notable strategic milestones include filing the federal class action Cook v. Raimondo in November 2018 (generating national media coverage including The New York Times, CNN, and The Daily Show), launching the Family Preparedness Plan in March 2019, securing passage of the Rhode Island Workers' Cooperative Bill in October 2017, supporting elimination of criminal court costs for indigent defendants in June 2022, and reaching a proposed settlement in the PLEE v. PPSD special education class action in September 2023. Jennifer L. Wood has served as Executive Director since May 2017, leading a Board of Directors chaired by Amato A. DeLuca.

Name

The Rhode Island Center For Justice

Legal name

The Rhode Island Center for Justice

Website

https://centerforjustice.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Rhode Island Center for Justice is a nonprofit public interest law center in Providence that provides free civil legal services to low-income Rhode Islanders through community partnerships, covering housing, immigration, education, workers' rights, criminal justice, and utility issues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Interest Legal Aid Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal Aid & Client Advocacy Services (BPAGAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Civil Liberties & Constitutional Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAA), Criminal Justice Reform & Legal System Advocacy (BPAGAFAI), Legal Literacy & Public Legal Education (Know Your Rights) (EDAAAFAI)

Keywords

• Civil legal aid
• Public interest law
• Tenant advocacy
• Immigrant rights services
• Community legal services

Headquarters

HQ city

Providence

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Individual donors contribute to the Center's mission. The organization actively solicits donations via its website (centerforjustice.app.neoncrm.com/forms/donate) and encourages supporters to contact Executive Director Jennifer Wood to discuss gifts.
2. Grants and Foundation Support: The Center receives grant funding from foundations to support specific programs. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island provided a BlueAngel Community Health Grant supporting the Pandemic Defense of Healthy Homes program for housing and utility security. Cox Communications awarded a $10,000 Tech Boost grant for technology equipment and software. The Center also distributed $170,000 in DACA renewal fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Rhode Island Center for Justice is a nonprofit public interest law center that provides free civil legal representation, strategic litigation, and advocacy exclusively through partnerships with community groups. Its core offerings include direct legal services for low-income residents across housing (Tenant Advocacy Project), immigration (Family Preparedness Plan), workers' rights, criminal justice reform, education rights (federal class actions), and utility shutoff prevention, delivered via community clinics, strategic litigation, and legislative advocacy.

Product overview

The Rhode Island Center for Justice is a non-profit public interest law center that operates as a single unified legal services organization rather than a platform-based product. Its core offerings include the Family Preparedness Plan (a bilingual web resource for immigrants at risk of deportation), the Tenant Advocacy Project (bi-monthly legal clinics for low-income tenants), federal class action litigation for education rights (Cook v. Raimondo), special education class action settlements (PLEE v. PPSD), workers' rights advocacy, criminal justice reform, and rental/utility assistance programs. The Center also operates a postgraduate fellowship program in partnership with Roger Williams University School of Law. Legal services are provided exclusively through partnerships with community groups to support collective action and social justice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Family Preparedness Plan
• Tenant Advocacy Project
• Students' Right to Education Litigation (A.C. v. Raimondo)
• Special Education Class Action (PLEE v. PPSD)
• Rent Relief RI Program Assistance
• Driver's License Restoration Program
• Pandemic Defense of Healthy Homes
• RWULaw Center For Justice Fellowship

Quantifiable outcome

• ~$170,000 in DACA renewal fees distributed to Rhode Island Dreamers
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles7 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Roger Williams University School of Law (RWU School of Law)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFlagship institutional partnership created at the founding of the Center. Includes a post-graduate fellowship program employing recent graduates as staff attorneys for two-year fellowships, collaboration on pro bono and experiential education, joint commitment to building the next generation of public interest attorneys in Rhode Island. Brings together new lawyers, supervising legal staff, mentoring attorneys, and law students.
• Pro Bono Collaborative at Roger Williams University School of LawcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners with the Center on the Lawyer in the Library program providing free landlord-tenant know-your-rights training and consultations to community members.
• Fuerza Laboral (Community Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLed the drafting of the Workers' Cooperative Bill (House Bill 6001 and Senate Bill 676) streamlining cooperative incorporation in Rhode Island. Fuerza Laboral leaders participated in signing ceremony with Governor Raimondo on October 25, 2017. The Center provided legal guidance in coalition work.
• Jobs with Justice (Community Coalition)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner in workers' rights campaigns including the Workers' Cooperative Bill and earned sick leave legislation. Provides community organizing infrastructure for collective action campaigns.
• George Wiley Center (Community Organization)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center represents low-income utility consumers in two pending dockets before the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission: Docket 4600 (grid modernization) and Docket 4651 (Arrearage Management Plan). George Wiley Center members advocate alongside the Center.
• Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCenter for Justice staff attorney provides free legal consultations on housing issues and conducts tenants' rights trainings for Providence-area tenants at DARE every Tuesday evening. The Center provides legal assistance in DARE's campaign against unfair rent increases.
• Connecticut Network for Legal AidminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Family Preparedness Plan was adapted from forms hosted on CTLawHelp.org with written permission of the Connecticut Network for Legal Aid. Acknowledged for their support in launching the FPP.
• Homes RI (Coalition)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner in tenant protection efforts. Homes RI, the Center for Justice, and community partners published COVID-19 tenant rights FAQs in English and Spanish. The Center supports Homes RI's Eviction Diversion program advocacy.
• ACLU of Rhode IslandmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-counsel and partner in PLEE v. PPSD class action. The ACLU of Rhode Island is Class Counsel alongside Ellen Saideman, Lynette Labinger, and Jennifer Wood. Settlement terms are posted on the ACLU website. The organizations co-published the class action settlement notice.
• Youth in Action (YIA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner joining Providence parents and students in filing a motion demanding engagement and transparency in the state takeover of Providence Public Schools. Represents youth voice in education reform efforts.
• Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner in the September 4, 2019 legal motion for community engagement in Providence schools takeover. Represents Southeast Asian youth perspectives in education equity advocacy.
• Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner in the September 2019 legal motion for parental and student engagement in Providence schools takeover. Focuses on educational equity for Rhode Island Southeast Asian communities.
• Providence Student Union (PSU)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStudent organization partner in legal motion for community engagement in Providence schools takeover. Student plaintiffs from PSU, including Ahmed Sesay, featured in A.C. v. Raimondo litigation and The Daily Show segment.
• Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMichael Rebell, Executive Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College/Columbia University, served as co-counsel in A.C. v. Raimondo. The Center filed the federal class action with attorneys Stephen Robinson and Sam Zurier.
• Working Families PartymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition partner in the earned sick leave campaign. The Center provided legal guidance to ensure legislation is comprehensive and effective for Rhode Island workers.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Massachusetts Law Reform Institute: Massachusetts-based statewide poverty law and policy center pursuing impact litigation and legislative advocacy on behalf of low-income residents; closely comparable to the Center's strategic litigation and legislative reform orientation.
• Empire Justice Center: New York statewide legal services and advocacy organization focused on systemic reform for low-income, disabled, and vulnerable communities; a strong analog as a nonprofit combining direct representation with policy advocacy.
• Connecticut Legal Services: Connecticut's statewide legal aid program serving low-income residents on housing, family, public benefits, and consumer issues; comparable nonprofit public interest model in a neighboring New England state with a similar practice mix.
• ACLU of Rhode Island: State affiliate of the ACLU serving Rhode Island, engaged in civil rights litigation and advocacy; listed as co-counsel with the Center on PLEE v. PPSD, reflecting overlapping subject matter and coalition activity.
• Rhode Island Legal Services: Statewide civil legal aid organization in Rhode Island providing free legal help to low-income residents; the most direct local peer to the Center for Justice, with overlapping subject areas (housing, public benefits, family) and serving the same RI client base.
• Disability Rights Rhode Island: Rhode Island's federally funded protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities; co-located in RI, pursues special education and civil rights litigation comparable to the Center's PLEE v. PPSD work.

Broad incumbents

• Public Counsel: Nation's largest pro bono public interest law firm, providing direct representation and impact litigation across civil rights, education, immigration, and housing; broader scale but similar nonprofit public interest legal model.
• Southern Poverty Law Center: National civil rights organization combining impact litigation, policy advocacy, and education; a larger, broader peer whose constitutional and civil rights litigation parallels the Center's A.C. v. Raimondo and PLEE v. PPSD work.
• Legal Aid Society of New York: Large nonprofit providing civil and criminal legal services to low-income New Yorkers; comparable in mission and direct-representation model but at materially greater scale and geographic scope.

Others

• Roger Williams University School of Law - Pro Bono Collaborative: RWU Law's clinical and pro bono programs that co-host Lawyer in the Library and the fellowship pipeline feeding the Center for Justice; functions as an enabling partner rather than a competitor but is structurally tied to the Center's delivery model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/RhodeIslandCenterforJustice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rhode-island-center-for-justice

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Rhode Island Center For Justice