WASHINGTON - On Friday, February 25 at 10:30 AM, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) announced $650,000 to support construction of the Meeting Street National Center of Excellence Recreational and Physical Education facility in Providence. Reed and Chafee announced the funds at the Meeting Street Center campus in East Providence.The federal funds will be used to help construct a fully accessible gymnasium on the Meeting Street Center of Excellent campus in South Providence for children and adults with disabilities, which would also be open to the larger South Providence community, a low-income neighborhood where approximately 40% of residents are below the age of 18.This state-of-the art campus will provide children and their families with an environment where they can receive education, support services, and access to special equipment. Each year, Meeting Street provides more than 2,500 children, with and without developmental disabilities, and their families, with an environment where they can receive education, clinical expertise, special equipment access, and community-based inclusive academic resources.In FY03 Reed secured $180,000 to support the construction of the Meeting Street National Center of Excellence in Providence.