As Rhode Island struggles through the recession, the Rhode Island Foundation is directing a substantial share of the $4.5 million in grants it is distributing this year toward community and economic development efforts.

The foundation is devoting $1.15 million to projects like $50,000 for job training at Amos House, $30,000 for Community House Land Trust of R.I. to convert foreclosed properties into affordable homes, $50,000 for the Newport Skills Alliance’s initiative to address regional workforce development challenges and $60,000 to Crossroads Rhode Island to strengthen job skills and employment readiness for homeless and underemployed adults.

The foundation also awarded grants in the areas of education ($897,550), health ($806,308), human services ($773,000), and arts and culture ($513,000).

“With our limited resources, we have a responsibility to be strategic about our grant investments,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation’s president and CEO

Still, the total amount of grants increased 1 percent this year, despite the economy. The foundation awarded 107 grants, the largest worth $75,000.

The following is a list of the grant recipients:

ARTS and CULTURE: $513,000

AS220, Providence: $75,000. Community MusicWorks, Providence: $30,000 for a multimedia musical program. Festival Ballet/Providence, Providence: $40,000 for Learning Through Dance. FirstWorks, Providence: $40,000. FosteringArts.org, Foster: $21,540. Island Moving Company, Newport: $30,500.

Little Compton Historical Society: $11,960. New Urban Arts, Providence: $30,000. Providence City Arts for Youth, Inc.: $58,000.

Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts: $33,000. Rhode Island Public Radio: $60,000. Town of Tiverton: $15,000 for the Sakonnet Arts Network.

WaterFire Providence: $68,000 for a new managing director.

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: $1,145,000

Amos House, Providence: $50,000. Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, Portsmouth: $30,000. The ARC of Northern Bristol County, Cumberland: $12,000. Community Housing Land Trust of R.I., Providence: $30,000. Corporation for Supportive Housing /New England Program, Providence: $40,000. Crossroads Rhode Island, Providence: $60,000. Dorcas Place Adult and Family Learning Center, Providence: $65,000 to help immigrant professionals return to their professions.

East Bay Community Action Program, Newport: $50,000 for the Newport Skills Alliance. Grow Smart Rhode Island: $75,000. House of Hope Community Development Corporation, Warwick: $33,000 to help formerly homeless women with employment.

Housing Action Coalition of Rhode Island: $15,000. Housing Network of Rhode Island: $50,000 for a certificate program at Roger Williams University.

NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, Woonsocket: $60,000 to launch a sweat-equity, energy-efficient homebuilding program for 75 low-income families.

Olneyville Housing Corporation: $35,000 for the Olneyville Foreclosure Intervention Initiative.

Providence Plan: $40,000.

Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless: $50,000.

Rhode Island Green Building Council: $24,000. Rhode Island College Foundation: $75,000 for the Poverty Institute.

Saint Antoine Residence, North Smithfield: $60,000 for a training and career development program.

SWAP (Stop Wasting Abandoned Property), Providence: $35,000. Tiverton Library Foundation: $10,000 for design of a new library. UNAP Education Fund, Providence: $50,000 for Stepping Up, helping train people for jobs in health care.

URI Foundation: $30,000 for the Coastal Resource Center’s Newport Harbor Redevelopment Planning Initiative.

Washington County Community Development Corporation: $25,000 to help towns add affordable housing.

Washington County Regional Planning Council: $40,000. West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation, Providence: $50,000 for conversion of foreclosed properties into affordable homes.

Westerly Area Rest Meals/WARM: $16,000. Women’s Development Corporation, Providence: $35,000 to provide affordable housing.

EDUCATION: $897,550

Brown University: $45,000 to explore how urban and suburban students choose their education paths.

City Year Rhode Island: $40,000. The College Crusade of Rhode Island: $25,000. The Compass School, Kingston: $40,000. Cranston School Department: $30,000 for a program at the New England Laborers’ Construction Career Academy.

The Greene School: , $30,000 for planning and development of a proposed public charter high school. Harmony Hill School, Chepachet: $40,000. Learning Community Charter School, Central Falls: $50,000. Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, Providence: $30,000 to improve math literacy. My Turn, Bristol: $30,000 for a youth development and drop-out prevention program.

The Providence After School Alliance: $50,000 to implement a network of afterschool services for high school students. Pawtucket School Department: $14,550 for The Walsh School. Providence School Department: $60,000.

Rhode Island Campus Compact: $38,000.

Rhode Island Center For School Leadership: $35,000. Rhode Island Instructional Leadership Academy: $35,000. Rhode Island Student Loan Authority: $75,000 for the Latino College Access Coalition.

Sophia Academy, North Providence: $40,000. Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy, Providence: $40,000 for the Health Careers Pathways project. Trinity Restoration, Providence: $40,000 for a new charter school. Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program, Providence: $50,000. Wheeler School/Providence Summerbridge: $15,000. Young Voices, Providence: $45,000.

ENVIRONMENT: $448,750

Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living, Providence: $45,000 for the Rhode Island Sustainable Schools Network.

Clean Water Fund, Providence: $40,000 to encourage manufacturing of less toxic and easier to recycle products.

Conservation Law Foundation, Boston: $35,000 for work in Rhode Island to reduce emissions. Environment Council of R.I. Education Fund: $60,000 to form a Coalition for Transportation Choices.

Environment Northeast, Rockport, Maine.: $40,000 to advocate for increased funding for energy efficiency and clean energy policies in Rhode Island.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island: $43,750 to develop a culinary training program that produces preserved foods with ingredients from local farmers in partnership with the Rhode Island Training School.

Nature Conservancy, Providence: $35,000. New England Grassroots Environment Fund, Montpelier, Vt.: $30,000 for Rhode Island initiatives for local food systems. Sakonnet Preservation Association, Little Compton: $50,000.

Salt Ponds Coalition, Charlestown: $20,000. Sierra Club Rhode Island Chapter: $25,000 for a project to establish a statewide transportation plan.

Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council: $25,000. HEALTH: $806,308

Cornerstone Adult Services, Warwick: $69,932.

East Bay Community Action Program, Newport: $50,720 to increase the participation of at-risk senior citizens in the Rhode Island Food Stamp Program.

IN-SIGHT, Warwick: $50,000.

Kent Hospital: $35,000 to combat childhood obesity.

The Providence Center: $71,800 to help obese children with weight loss.

Providence Clubhouse Development Group, Pawtucket: $40,000. Psychological Centers, Providence: $67,500. Rhode Island Hospital: $71,500 for the hospital’s new program for patients with cancers of the lung, head and neck.

Rhode Island Hospital: $52,116 to help adults with diabetes.

Rhode Island Hospital: $28,000 for the Adolescent Leadership Council of Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

Rhode Island Parent Information Network: $50,000. Rhode Island Quality Institute: $65,000 to speed up the use of electronic medical records by physicians.

Ronald McDonald House, Providence: $10,000. Thundermist Health Center, Woonsocket: $75,000.

YMCA of Greater Providence: $69,740.

HUMAN SERVICES: $773,000

Boys & Girls Club of Newport County: $75,000. Boys Town New England, Portsmouth: $35,000.Children’s Friend and Service, Providence: $36,000. Families First Rhode Island: $40,000.

Family Service of Rhode Island: $75,000 to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone in the Chad Brown and Admiral Terrace public housing projects.

Federal Hill House Association: $25,000. Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Providence: $75,000. John Hope Settlement House, Providence: $50,000. Lucy’s Hearth, Middletown: $32,000. Providence Youth Student Movement: $40,000.Rhode Island Foster Parents Association: $40,000. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT: $75,000. Tannerhill, Pascoag: $40,000. Tides Family Services, West Warwick: $25,000. Youth In Action, Providence: $40,000. YWCA of Northern Rhode Island: $70,000.