Want to support the Blackstone Collaborative’s mission?
The Blackstone River has been home to people for thousands of years. Indigenous communities, including the Nipmuc, Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Aquinnah, have lived along its banks and relied on its abundant fish runs long before the Industrial Revolution transformed it into what became known as the birthplace of American industry. Today, the river and its watershed remain central to the health and resilience of the region—and your support helps ensure its restoration and protection for generations to come.
The Blackstone Watershed Collaborative is at the heart of this work, connecting more than 120 partners across Massachusetts and Rhode Island—municipalities, tribes, universities, nonprofits, community groups, and others—to strengthen the entire Blackstone River watershed. The work we do is unique in the Blackstone, bringing together diverse partners to take on complex, cross-boundary challenges that no other organization is equipped to lead. Our three-person staff is actively managing over a dozen grants that tackle critical projects such as studying the hydrology of the bi-state river and prioritizing restoration efforts watershed-wide to shepherd them to implementation.
Our committed funds total over $1.5M in federal, state, and private funding, but those dollars don’t stay with us - over $1M of those are flowing back to our partners - bringing big dollars to the backyard of the Blackstone. Capacity building is at the core of what we do, and reinvesting directly into local communities is one way we accomplish this - through subawards with small businesses, local nonprofits, tribal nations, and paid student internships.
Your gift helps us restore habitats through dam removal, fish passage, and invasive species management; strengthen communities by ensuring access to clean water, safe recreation, and climate-resilient infrastructure; and build the next generation of stewards through education, outreach, and student engagement.
When you give to the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative, you’re not just donating to an organization—you’re helping to reinvest in the people and places that make the Blackstone watershed thrive. Your gift directly supports real, on-the-ground change to advance community and ecological resilience from Worcester to Providence and out to Narragansett Bay.