EAST PROVIDENCE — East Providence recently received several grants intended to enhance education in the district, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Sandra Forand told the School Committee at its first meeting in June.

“It’s been a good couple of weeks for us. We’re very excited,” Dr. Forand said of the grants.

East Providence High School was among 20 other institutions joining a collaborative created by the Rhode Island Department of Education, “XQ+RI: Rhode Island’s XQ Challenge.”

According to RIDE, the effort is the state’s first-of-its-kind partnership with XQ, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to reimagining high school education so every student succeeds – “no matter their race, gender, or ZIP code.”

A group of local and national experts evaluated the proposals based on three factors: the boldness of the proposal; how student-centered the proposal was; and how broad-based the planning team was that developed it. Each of the selected teams will receive a $25,000 grant to continue building their proposals into complete innovation plans.

Dr. Forand explained as part of theXQ challenge EPHS will receive an initial $25,000 planning grant, use of which will center on the new building about to be constructed. From there, it could potentially be in the running for $500,000 to help “redesign, reimagine how we do high schools," she said.

As part of the program, EPHS students and staff will be offering suggestions. The EPHS group, she continued, will work throughout summer on the effort. The larger grant is likely to be awarded in January 2020.

“We’re very excited,” Dr. Forand said. "We have our team together. Once again we’ll be looking for community support, engaging the community in more conversations, more envisioning what our high school will be like and not in the physical sense, but in the programming sense. We’ll be asking what do we really want to see as far as opportunities that our students will have in the new building?”

Martin Middle School was among 18 middle schools to gain access to RIDE monies for its PrepareRI effort, which seeks to provide Grade 6-8 students to explore career options. According to RIDE, each school selected will receive an average grant of $5,000. The grants will be used to build or expand programs to put more students on track for success in college and career.

In addition, through a collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of East Providence, the district received 21st Century grants to provide students with after school community learning centers.

The first grant is a five-year extension of the club’s Hennessey Elementary School Scholar Camp. The second is a new grant for Martin Middle School students called “Camp Martin,” which ­will offer support for English Language Arts and Math studies as well as activities like drama club, yoga, robotics, and computer app design offered daily. Teachers from within the district will be part of the instruction.

Dr. Forand credited the work done by the respective Hennessey and Martin principals, Lindsey Reilly and Bill Black, in helping secure the dollars, aimed at enhancing the academic and social programs at their buildings.

“It’s a really great grant,” Dr. Forand said of 21st Century monies.