Rhode Island Works (RI Works) cash assistance for families (2026)

What RI Works pays at each family size

The payment standard is the most a family with no countable income receives. A parent or child on SSI is left out of the plan size ⁠¹. DHS splits the monthly amount in two and loads each half onto the family’s EBT card on the 1st and the 16th ⁠¹⁠².

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

The table continues to plan size 15 ($2,365) and adds $125 for each person beyond that. The subsidized-housing column subtracts the $65 reduction in § 2.18.2 ⁠¹.

A pregnant person with no other children counts as a plan of 1. The baby is added in the month of birth ⁠¹. The first month is prorated from the filing date, using a 30-day month. DHS does not issue a payment for any month in which the grant would be less than $10, but the case stays open ⁠¹.

How Rhode Island counts a paycheck against the grant

RI Works has no separate gross-income cap: net countable income must be below the payment standard ⁠¹. DHS counts it this way:

• Children’s wages. A dependent child’s earnings are not counted at all ⁠¹.
• Parent’s wages. For each parent, DHS disregards $525 a month plus half of the remaining earnings ⁠¹.
• Child care. Paid child care is deducted up to $175 a month per child age 2 or older, or up to $200 for a child under 2. The provider cannot live in the child’s household ⁠¹.
• Other income. Unearned income such as unemployment benefits counts dollar for dollar ⁠¹.

Example: a single parent of two earns $1,200 a month and has no other income. DHS subtracts $525, which leaves $675, and counts half of that, $337.50. The grant would be $865 minus $337.50, or $527.50 a month. By the same formula, the family loses eligibility once the parent’s earnings reach $2,255 a month ($2,125 in subsidized housing). DHS’s eligibility page still describes an older $300 disregard ⁠²; the regulation’s $525 is what caseworkers apply ⁠¹.

Rhode Island also has an earned income set-aside for parents who start a job while on RI Works. If you ask for it, wages from the new job are not counted for the first six months, or until the household’s gross income goes above 185% of the federal poverty level, whichever comes first. The set-aside also ends if you reach the 60-month limit ⁠¹. Under the September 2026 proposal, it could not overlap with the new Post-Employment Benefit ⁠⁴.

The $5,000 resource test and the two-car rule

A family can have up to $5,000 in countable resources, measured as equity value ⁠¹. That includes cash, bank and credit union accounts, stocks, bonds and real estate other than the home. DHS accepts your own statement for resources under $3,000. Above $3,000, you need documents ⁠¹. These things are excluded:

• the home you live in and the land around it;
• one vehicle for each adult, up to two per household;
• vehicles and equipment used to earn a living, such as a taxi, a work truck or a fishing boat;
• ordinary household furnishings and clothing ⁠¹.

Other real estate can be set aside while you try to sell it at fair market value, but it must sell within six months or the aid becomes an overpayment ⁠¹.

Employment plan hours: 20, 30 or 35 a week

To get RI Works, a parent must sign an employment plan, written with a DHS worker after a Family Needs Assessment. A preliminary plan may be revised within the first 30 days ⁠¹. For most parents, the first activity is a job search ⁠⁷.

• Single parent, youngest child under 6: at least 20 hours a week ⁠¹.
• Single parent, youngest child 6 or older: at least 30 hours a week ⁠¹.
• Two parents: a combined 35 hours a week, with at least 30 of them in core activities. If the family uses subsidized child care, the combined total rises to 55 hours ⁠¹⁠².

Core activities include paid or subsidized jobs, work experience, on-the-job training, community service and vocational training, which can last 12 months, plus 12 more after a successful first year at the Community College of Rhode Island ⁠¹. Job search and job readiness count for no more than 4 weeks in a row and 6 weeks in a 12-month period ⁠¹. DHS provides monthly RIPTA bus passes and pays up to $5 a day for other transportation needed to follow the plan ⁠¹.

Single parents are excused while caring for a baby under 1 (12 months in a lifetime) or a disabled family member, while on or likely to qualify for SSI or SSDI, during domestic violence or homelessness, and while in (or waitlisted for) substance use or mental health treatment ⁠¹. If you miss your plan without good cause, the parent’s share of the grant is cut for up to three months. After that, the whole case closes. To get full benefits back, you must show two weeks of compliance ⁠¹⁠⁷.

Sixty months since 1997, and Rhode Island’s six-month hardship extensions

Each adult can receive RI Works for 60 months in a lifetime, counted from May 1, 1997, including TANF months from other states ⁠¹. This mirrors the federal limit, which lets states exempt up to 20% of their caseload for hardship ⁠¹⁰. Months you received aid as a child do not count, but months under a sanction do ⁠¹. DHS sends monthly notices once six months remain ⁠¹.

The time limit does not apply to a child-only case in which the parent or parents receive SSI, or in which a relative who is not in the payment cares for the child ⁠¹. Adults who reach 60 months can apply for a hardship extension (also available after the case has closed). Extensions are granted for 6 months at a time and can be renewed. They require one of these situations:

• a documented serious incapacity, with an SSI or SSDI application pending;
• caring full-time for a family member with a significant disability;
• homelessness;
• current domestic violence;
• another critical condition approved by a DHS supervisor ⁠¹.

An extension comes with an amended employment plan ⁠¹.

No diversion payment: the extra RI Works payments that do exist

Rhode Island does not offer a lump-sum diversion payment in place of monthly aid. What the rules call “grant diversion” is a subsidized-job arrangement in which part of your grant is paid to an employer as a wage supplement for up to 12 months ⁠¹. Families already receiving RI Works can get these extra payments:

• Emergency assistance: the actual cost of an emergency need, up to $200, but only if DHS approves it in advance and has money set aside for it ⁠¹.
• Catastrophic assistance: clothing (up to $200 a person) and essential furniture and appliances after a fire, flood or other natural disaster at your address of record ⁠¹.
• Moving expenses: in-state moves for families forced out by eviction, foreclosure, unsafe or uninhabitable housing, domestic violence or homelessness ⁠¹.
• Clothing allowance: a once-a-year payment for children. The legislature sets the amount, and the proposed rule limits it to children who are active on RI Works in August ⁠¹⁠⁴.
• Post-Closure Employment Incentive Bonus: up to 12 months of payments after your case closes, as long as you work at least 30 hours a week (35 for two-parent families). The regulation does not list a dollar amount. The September 2026 proposal renames it the Post-Employment Benefit, makes it a monthly cash benefit and caps household income at 250% of the poverty level ⁠¹⁠⁴.

Applying through the HealthyRhode customer portal, step by step

1. Pick a way to file

   Apply online through the HealthyRhode customer portal, by phone at 1-855-697-4347, or on the paper DHS-2 Application for Assistance (English version dated 9.2026). Mail the paper form to P.O. Box 8709, Cranston, RI 02920-8787, or drop it in a box at any DHS office ⁠⁵. Your filing date is the day DHS receives a signed application. A recorded phone signature counts ⁠¹.

2. Gather proof

   Bring identity and immigration documents, Social Security numbers, pay stubs, bank statements, child care receipts, and what you know about each absent parent (name, Social Security number, date of birth, address) ⁠¹⁠⁵.

3. Complete the interview

   RI Works requires an interview, in person or by phone. You will also sign a form listing any cash aid you received in other states ⁠¹.

4. Build the employment plan

   The Family Needs Assessment covers your education, work history and health. If a medical condition limits work, DHS gives you a medical form, which you return within 30 days ⁠¹.

5. Watch for the decision

   DHS must decide within 30 days of the filing date and must tell you why if it takes longer. Aid starts from the filing date ⁠¹.

6. Report changes

   Report changes within 10 days. If a child leaves the home, report it within 5 days ⁠¹.

7. Appeal if you disagree

   Ask for a hearing within 30 days of the notice, or within 10 days to keep benefits until the decision ⁠¹. File in the HealthyRhode portal, on form OHHS-121, or by fax to (401) 223-6317; the EOHHS Appeals Office hears the case ⁠⁶.

Child support through the Office of Child Support Services

When you apply, you assign your child support rights to the state. Your case goes automatically to the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) as a full-service case at no cost. OCSS locates the other parent, establishes parentage and gets an order in place ⁠¹⁠⁸. Parents who are not on RI Works can apply too, for a $20 fee, by calling (401) 458-4400 ⁠⁸.

If you refuse to cooperate without good cause, such as domestic violence, the family’s standard is cut by 25% and the uncooperative parent is removed from the grant ⁠¹. While you receive RI Works, the state keeps support it collects, except for a monthly pass-through. Under the adopted rule, the pass-through is the first $50 paid in a month, and it does not reduce your RI Works grant ⁠¹⁠⁹. DHS’s September 2026 proposal, which implements the FY 2027 budget, raises the pass-through to $100 for one child or $200 for two or more ⁠³⁠⁴. Ask your worker which amount applies to your case. The pass-through still counts as income for SNAP ⁠⁴.

For more help in this state, see all Rhode Island assistance guides or compare cash assistance across states.