RIAHOF Receives $20K in Grants and Donations

We are pleased to report that RI Aviation Hall of Fame has received a $15,000 grant in support of the preservation of its historic aircraft, the construction of aviation displays, and the continuation of its research about the state’s rich aviation history.

Dr. Patrick T. Conley, President of the Heritage Harbor Foundation, recently announced that the Foundation awarded $127,000 in  2017 grants to twelve local organizations. The purpose of the grants was to support projects aimed at increasing the awareness of Rhode Island adults and school-age students of their historical, ethnic, and cultural heritage.

Dr. Conley attended the project’s monthly volunteer meeting on February 20, 2018 to present the check. He graciously supplemented that donation with an additional $5,000 as a personal contribution from himself and his wife Gail.

The Heritage Harbor Foundation is the outgrowth of a movement begun in the 1980s to create Rhode Island’s own state history museum. Rhode Island is one of only four states without such an institution. In 2007 the museum was at an 80% development point in the former Narragansett Electric South Street power station (now the state nursing school) when the dramatic downturn in the economy and the change in the state’s historic tax credit program caused its development partner (Struever Brothers, Eccles, and Rouse of Baltimore) to withdraw.

Dr. Patrick Conley and Frank Lennon

Dr. Patrick Conley of the Heritage Harbor Foundation, presents RIAHOF President Frank Lennon with the grant check.

Unable to continue its museum course, Heritage Harbor Corporation used its dual identity and switched from museum to foundation. A clause in its deed from Narragansett Electric Company enabled it to sell its easement and interest in the building and use the proceeds to establish a grant-making endowment to carry out its mission and promises to donors. The multi-million dollar endowment, created through the efforts of Museum and Heritage Harbor Foundation president, Dr. Patrick T. Conley, is lodged at the Rhode Island Foundation.

For more about the Heritage Harbor Foundation, visit https://heritageharborfoundation.org/.

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