Hope in the Valley signs contract to purchase Rite of Passage property

File photo Hope in the Valley signed a contract with the Alamosa County Commissioners to purchase the Rite of Passage property to serve as the future site of a 30-bed residential treatment and recovery center.

ALAMOSA — Last week, the non-profit Hope in the Valley signed a contract with the Alamosa County Commissioners to purchase property to serve as the future site of a 30-bed residential treatment and recovery center. The 6,700 square foot building, locally known as the Rite of Passage, is located behind the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office on 17th Street.

According to Alamosa County Administrator Roni Wisdom, the property was sold for $700,000 and the hope is “to close before the end of the year.”

A Thursday afternoon conversation with Justin Luke Riley, partner and co-founder of Hope in the Valley, revealed that the plans for the facility go far and above the renovation of the property, including creation of a “community led treatment and recovery center plus.”

That language is used deliberately by Riley, “not for marketing purposes” but because it is an accurate description of the non-profit’s plans for the facility now and in the future, driven by a philosophy of “giving back” to the community and collaboration with community partners including local municipalities, non-profits, law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, the court system, health care systems and veterans’ organizations.

Riley has garnered a national reputation for, among other things, having worked with what he said are hundreds of treatment centers and starting Young People in Recovery which is described by Forbes magazine in 2017 and other publications as “changing the narrative around addiction recovery and fueling a new, energetic movement across the nation.”

However, Riley is quick to sidestep being the focus of conversation, instead directing attention to the deep commitment of his partners and fellow co-founders, Kim and Paul Reed, as well as the “incredible partnership” they have already experienced in working with the Alamosa County Commissioners and, specifically, Wisdom, toward creation of the facility they envision.

He also gives great credit to Jamie Reynolds — nurse, resident of the valley and Paul Reed’s sister — who first alerted them to the property being available.

“We’re very excited to be opening the first (center) of its kind — definitely in Alamosa but also the state,” Riley said. “We hope to show the rest of the country how successful our model can be at multiple levels.”