Heritage Harbor announces grant program for R.I. history

PATRICK T. CONLEY, , who assumed the presidency of the Heritage Harbor Museum in 2009, is leading the successor project, the Heritage Harbor Foundation, which will award grants to efforts concerning Rhode Island history. Here he stands at his Conley's Wharf building along Allens Avenue in Providence. / PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE
PATRICK T. CONLEY, , who assumed the presidency of the Heritage Harbor Museum in 2009, is leading the successor project, the Heritage Harbor Foundation, which will award grants to efforts concerning Rhode Island history. Here he stands at his Conley's Wharf building along Allens Avenue in Providence. / PBN FILE PHOTO/DAVID LEVESQUE

PROVIDENCE – The newly established Heritage Harbor Foundation, the successor of Heritage Harbor Corp., has created a $3.6 million endowment to fund projects concerning Rhode Island history.

Patrick T. Conley, president of the Heritage Harbor Foundation, explained the endowment was formed when the organization sold $4.5 million worth of assets in the South Street Landing project in a negotiated settlement to Commonwealth Venture Partners (the predecessor of developer CV Properties LLC), paid their debts and then had $3.6 million remaining.

He added: “It’s the largest endowment for the promotion of Rhode Island history that’s ever been created, and we hope nonprofits, Rhode Island history scholars and others will be helped with their projects and programs as the result of Heritage Harbor Foundation.”

Local organizations and nonprofits focusing on projects similar to the proposed Heritage Harbor Museum are encouraged to put forward their work for consideration in the competitive application process.

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Research supported by the Heritage Harbor Foundation found that further projects concerning Rhode Island’s history should include the following six themes, and the organization hopes applicant’s projects will include reference to them.

  • A timeline of major turning points
  • An examination of the role played by Narragansett Bay in the state’s development
  • An exposition of ingenuity, enterprise and design accomplishments
  • An analysis of the state’s role as a regional transportation intersection between the metropolitan regions of New York and Boston
  • An assessment of the impact of immigration and ethnicity on Rhode Island, making it a “cultural crossroads”
  • An examination of the Rhode Island penchant for defining itself through neighborhood, parish and village loyalties

According to the Heritage Harbor Foundation, some grants will be awarded in honor of major donors to the now-dissolved Heritage Harbor Museum project.

CV Properties is currently rehabilitating South Street Landing as the future home of nursing programs of the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, as well as an administrative facility for Brown University.

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