Community Matters

About Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island

In 2013, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island was born from the union of two great organizations: the International Institute of Rhode Island and the Dorcas Place Adult and Family Literacy Center.

Dorcas Place helped low-income adults to realize their full potential through literacy, collaboration, advocacy, and community involvement starting back in 1981. Since then, it  joined forces with the International Institute of Rhode Island (IIRI), which was founded in 1921, originally housed in two rooms on Weybosset Street and began as an affiliate of the YWCA. 

The two organizations came together to create Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, an all-encompassing multi-service agency that provides education and job readiness opportunities as well as legal services for citizenship and immigration, refugee resettlement programs, and more.

Since the 2013 merge, Dorcas International, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, has continued more than a century’s worth of work in the community, collectively serving the needs of immigrants,  refugees and native born in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts since 1921.

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 As a nonprofit that has worked to empower newcomers and Rhode Islanders 

for more than 100 years, we rely on the support of our community to ensure 

that our services are available and accessible to those who need it most. 

There are many different ways to help as we aid thousands of people throughout the year. 

Ways To Help