Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island’s (BBBSRI) headquarters has been located in Cranston since 1985. This November, the nonprofit mentoring organization will move its administrative headquarters to Rising Sun Mills, located in the heart of Olneyville on Valley Street in Providence.

During the organization’s Strategic Planning process, the BBBSRI headquarters location was identified as a weakness for the organization. Sixty-eight percent of the youth served by BBBSRI live in Providence County and it is estimated that that number could double if the organization were more accessible to families in Providence.

“We began our search for new office space right before the pandemic hit,” said Katje Afonseca, CEO of BBBSRI. “We started our search looking for 10,000 square feet and quickly realized that we could do more with less.”

The organization used Matt Fair of Cushman & Wakefield/Hayes & Sherry, a former BBBSRI board member, to lead the property search. BBBSRI has entered into a 10-year lease at Rising Sun Mills, a property managed by Armory Management Company.

“We are excited to welcome BBBSRI to Rising Sun Mills, a mixed-use community in the heart of Providence combining dining, fitness, loft living, and office space for life-science, nonprofit, and design and engineering firms. BBBSRI has been great to work with and, on behalf of the owners, we’re excited to be able to support their mission in the city and neighborhood,” stated Seth Zeren, director of development for Armory Management Company.

BBBSRI will lease 7,791 square feet of space on two separate levels at Rising Sun Mills.

“We have reached out to the city of Providence to explore options for a tax abatement as a nonprofit organization with a long-term lease,” said Afonseca.

Expected benefits of this relocation include the addition of a large community room for activities for mentoring pairs to participate in and other community groups to utilize, a café space for mentoring pairs to visit and connect, the ability to use Rising Sun Mills’ beautiful atrium to host fundraisers and much more.

“We are very excited about this move. We will be in the heart of a community in a space that is accessible and modern for the kids and families we serve as well as for our employees,” said Afonseca.

BBBSRI operates a clothing collection business known as the Donation Center, which raises funds for the mentoring program and 50 other nonprofits in the state. The Donation Center’s warehouse has been moved from a 1,000-square-foot space to an 8,000-square-foot warehouse in central Rhode Island. The Donation Center’s administrative team will be housed at Rising

Sun Mills and the Driver team will operate out of the warehouse space. The increase in square footage for the Donation Center warehouse will allow BBBSRI to increase its cloth collection business by 65 percent.

BBBSRI will be offering COVID-safe tours of its new space this winter. If you are interested in a tour, please email Admin@bigsri.org.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island creates and supports one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. If you are interested in mentoring a child, donating to support our program, hosting a clothing drive, hosting a clothing fundraiser for your school or group, or more, visit www.BigsRI.org, call (401) 921-2434, or email events@BigsRI.org.