For many Meridianites, hearing the term “Riley Foundation” sets off a kind of automatic word association response. You hear “Riley Foundation,” you think “Riley Center.”

But the MSU Riley Center for Education and the Performing Arts isn’t the only thing in Meridian that wouldn’t be here today without the help of the Riley Foundation. Some other very familiar names around Meridian, like “Hope Village,” for example, might be unheard of if not for grants from the Riley Foundation.

When talking to organizations that have been helped by the Riley Foundation, there’s an echo effect. Phrases like “We wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for the Riley Foundation,” or, “It’s amazing how much they really care about the community,” even, “I think other communities are jealous” are repeated over and over by members of a wide array of non-profit organizations in our area. The Riley Foundation has used its funds to enhance the arts, help the sick, educate the community, and improve the quality of life in Meridian and Lauderdale County in numerous other ways.



Humble Beginnings



When Riley Hospital was first opened by pediatrician Dr. Franklin Riley in 1930 , it had only 11 beds. Over the years, the hospital grew to house 140 beds, and was inherited by Dr. Franklin Riley’s sons, Dr. William G. “Billy” Riley and Dr. Richard F. Riley.

In the late 1990’s the Riley brothers began to consider selling the non-profit hospital to a for-profit organization. In 1998, it was sold to Health Management Associates, a company based in Naples, Fla.

With the help of former Meridian Mayor Al Rosenbaum and attorney Robert Deen, the Riley brothers used the $65 million generated by the sale of the hospital to create the Riley Foundation, and to enhance education, the arts, community development, and many other worthy causes in the Meridian/Lauderdale County area.

Why be so generous with all that money? Well, for one thing, “That’s all you can do with it if the hospital was a non-profit,” said Dr. Billy Riley, who is chairman of the board and CEO of the Riley Foundation. If the Riley’s had tried to keep any of the money personally, most of it would have been lost to attorney fees and to back taxes from the previous 56 years.

But that wasn’t the only reason the Riley Foundation was created. “It all goes back to Dr. Billy’s father’s original vision,” said Executive Director Becky Farley. Dr. Franklin Riley wanted to make Meridian a better place to live. “Now,” said Farley, “we’re doing that, just in a different way.”



Where they give, and how it helps



Of the 86 organizations that have received contributions from the Riley Foundation over the past 10 years, Farley and Riley have a few which they say have given them special satisfaction.

One of those is Hope Village for Children. Hope Village is an emergency foster care shelter located at the former Masonic Home site on 23rd Avenue. Before Hope Village, local children who had been removed from their homes because of abandonment, abuse, or neglect were housed in one of three facilities across the county, often resulting in the separation of siblings.

Hope Village serves as a shelter for children of all ages and genders, allowing siblings to stay together despite age or gender differences. Without the Riley Foundation, there would be no Hope Village.

“We couldn’t have opened without their funding,” said Hope Village Executive Director Tina Aycock. During 2000 and 2001, the Riley Foundation awarded Hope Village with grants amounting to $575,000. This paid for renovation and repair of the old Masonic Home site, and funded initial expenses to hire and train staff.

“They’ve played an enormous role in Hope Village being able to not just open, but expand,” said Aycock.

Recently, the foundation gave Hope Village a $60,000 matching grant for the construction of two transitional homes, to house residents who become too old for the foster care system, but were not yet ready for independence. In the newly built transitional homes, older teenagers can remain under the care of Hope Village while continuing their education or enhancing their vocational skills.

Farley and Riley said they feel like the foundation’s funds have also made a particularly big impact with Community of Hope Tutoring Center. Community of Hope is an after-school program where, Farley said, Meridian Public School Students in grades K-5 are tutored by Meridian High School Students. A variety of tutoring activities take place at the center, which provide educational benefits to both tutor and the tutee.

Community of Hope tutors are paid minimum wage, and for each year that they tutor, they receive a $750 scholarship. The scholarships are funded through an endowment, which is paid for in thirds – One third of the endowment is provided by the Riley Foundation, another third by the Phil Hardin Foundation, and the remaining third is raised by Community of Hope.

The foundation has also assisted Community of Hope with operating support, the purchase of computers, and the rebuilding of a roof. To date, the foundation has awarded Community of Hope over $200,000.



Protecting our health



Addiction is a terrible problem all over the world, Meridian and Lauderdale County not excluded. For Dr. Betsy Storms, director of the Best of Both World’s Women’s Addiction Center, the Riley Foundation has been infinitely valuable in the fight against addiction here in Meridian.

The Foundation has given the center $50,000 on two different occasions for operating support. Storms said this money has allowed the center to take on patients who would otherwise not have been able to afford substance abuse rehabilitation.

“It’s a small grant,” said Storms, “but it’s huge to us … the grant saved many lives.”

Four of the 155 women who have attended the center since February 2003 have died as a direct result of addiction, according to the Riley Foundation’s 10-year report. But 59 have kept in touch with the center, remained clean and sober, and continued to attend counseling or 12 step programs. That is a remarkable success rate in the fight against such a persistent and deadly affliction.

When asked about having so many young women’s lives attributed to the Riley Foundation, Dr. Riley said, “It goes with the territory. If we aren’t saving lives, we aren’t doing our job.”

The foundation also donated around $50,000 to Weems Mental Health Center for an adolescent substance abuse outpatient program. The educational program was designed to prevent addiction in children who had been caught using drugs or alcohol at an early age. According to the report, the program was successful at first, but Weems was unable to generate the funds needed to continue the full program once the grant money was depleted. They have, however, been able to continue with the twice a week meetings that were a part of the program.



Enhancing the arts and education



The Riley Foundation has contributed to the arts and education in Meridian in many ways. The Riley Center is their most conspicuous contribution to both, and the Meridian Little Theater, Meridian Community College, Meridian and Lauderdale County Public Schools, the Meridian Museum of Art, and after-school programs like the Boys and Girls Club of East Mississippi, just to name a few, have all received grants from the foundation.

The Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library received two grants from the Riley Foundation – one to supplement the library’s non-fiction collection, which goes out of date quickly and had suffered due to lack of funding, and another for the purchase of 2400 to 2500 audio books, for which the library had been receiving increasing requests.

The audio-book grant gave the library what it’s director, Steven McCartney, called “one of the best recorded book collections in Mississippi.”

“Those two contributions have really changed the face of our library,” McCartney said, “The Riley Foundation is an organization that really cares about the community.”

He added, “We (in Lauderdale County) are lucky, They’ve done wonderful work.”



Caring for the needy



The foundation has also contributed generously to organizations that help the poor in our community. They gave a $130,000 matching grant to L.O.V.E.’s kitchen, which feeds the hungry in Meridian, for the construction of their new building on 18th Street.

Lauderdale County Habitat for Humanity has received over $200,000 from the Riley Foundation, which they have used to build homes for the needy and provide furnishings for the homes of Hurricane Katrina victims, among other things. Habitat, Dr. Riley said, is one of his favorite charities.

In addition, the foundation has given over $90,000 to the Wesley House Community Center, which was used to help create and stock a free clinic, providing desperately needed drugs and medical care to those who could not otherwise afford it.



Taking the bad with the good



Not every contribution of the Riley Foundation has led to success. A $50,000 grant was given to Habitat to Humanity for it’s resale store, but the store flopped. Millions were given to the Meridian and Lauderdale County public school districts for the hire of more school nurses, but the program fell through due to organizational problems.

But the successes outweigh the failures in the case of the Riley Foundation, and, as Dr. Riley said, “If you’re not willing to take a risk, you’re not going to do much.”

The Riley Foundation has risked millions upon millions of dollars for the betterment of the community and, for the most part, those investments have paid off.



How the foundation works:



The Riley Foundation was created with funds from the sale of Riley Hospital. The hospital, which used to be non-profit, was sold to a for-profit company. By law, the Riley Foundation cannot solicit funds or accept donations from the community. They have to generate capital through investments, so they are subject to the effects of the economy. The foundation is audited yearly, and has an investment committee to make sure that their funds are invested safely.

“The market has not been good to us in the last couple of years.” Dr. William Riley, co-founder, chairman of the board, and CEO of the foundation said. The foundation, which has given out more than $30 million in grants, has been able to re-generate most of its funds, and at present has nearly as much money as it began with. But ideally, the foundation would have as much or more than its starting amount.

The foundation distributes its money through grants to governmental bodies or non-profit organizations like churches or charities that are located in Meridian or Lauderdale County.

Grant applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis, and so far about 70 percent of the applications have been accepted.

The foundation has given grants to 86 different organizations, in amounts ranging from $25 to $11.5 million.

Through the eyes of the Riley Foundation: The MSU Riley Center for Education and the Performing Arts:

Ten years ago, the Marks-Rothenberg building and the Grand Opera House were big, ugly eyesores. The entire block on which they’re located was a conspicuous addition to the growing collection of abandoned buildings in downtown Meridian.

Looking at those buildings now, it’s hard to believe they were ever in such bad condition. Thanks in part to more than $12 million in contributions from the Riley Foundation, what once was a blighted area is now one of Meridian’s gems.

But Riley Foundation Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board, and CEO Dr. Billy Riley is still not satisfied. He had hoped that the Riley Center would not only enliven the renovated buildings, but the entire downtown area, bringing a great deal more restaurants and businesses to the area.

“We’re still looking at it as something that needs further development before we’re satisfied,” he said. Dr. Riley looks forward to the proposed Threefoot project, in which developers will renovate the abandoned Threefoot building into a hotel. Dr. Riley hopes that, in combination with the Riley Center, the Threefoot hotel will bring the additional life to downtown that the Riley Center did not bring on its own.

But though the development of downtown after the opening of the Riley Center hasn’t yet reached the level for which Dr. Riley hoped, it has still done a lot for the area. Certainly, if there were no Riley Center, there would be no Threefoot project.

And since the opening of the Riley Center, more restaurants, though not many, have moved into the area, and a great deal more events now take place at Dumont Plaza, the park situated across the street from the Riley Center. The pre-reconstruction Marks-Rothenberg building was far from a good backdrop, and certainly couldn’t have provided an indoor venue for Dumont Plaza events, like this year’s Jimmie Rodgers festival, which had activities both at Dumont Plaza and inside the Riley Center.

The idea for the reconstruction of the Marks-Rothenberg building and the Grand Opera House was first presented to the Riley Foundation by then MSU President Dr. Malcom Portera. Portera thought that the building could present great educational opportunities to the community. (Portera, who is now on the Riley Foundation board of directors, was not affiliated with the foundation at that time.)

Though the Riley Foundation often contributes to arts programs, the MSU Riley Center project was contributed to more because of its educational value. “It stood on its own feet,” Dr. Riley said, “We were more concerned for Marks-Rothenberg to be used for educational purposes.”

“The performing arts venue was a plus,” said Executive Director Becky Farley, not the basis of the foundation’s decision to provide funding for the project.

Farley and Dr. Riley expressed more excitement over the educational events that take place at the Riley Center than any of the entertainment acts that come through.

“(The center) works with local teachers to bring in productions that will be educational for children,” Farley said. Not to mention the numerous teacher workshops that take place there.

Farley said she hopes the next workshop will be particularly enlightening. In August, the foundation will sponsor a workshop featuring renowned educator and author Ron Clark, from Atlanta. Clark will talk to administration, faculty, and MSU education program students about teaching and relating to children.

Mississippi superintendent of schools Hank Bounds has been invited to attend the meeting.

The Riley Center has been an icon for Meridian ever since its completion in 2006, and it is still going strong in terms of both entertainment and education.