RIPLEY, MISS. —HOPE Enterprise Corp., an affiliate of Hope Credit Union, played a role in the opening of Tippah County Hospital’s new 56,000 square-foot facility.
The $26.5 million project will add 25 new hospital beds, a new emergency room and surgery and outpatient clinic services to support the residents of Tippah County and surrounding areas. The new facility replaces an aging one and significantly expands access to high quality health care in North Mississippi.
Four community development entities provided New Markets Tax Credits to support the financing of the new hospital. Hope Enterprise Corporation (HOPE), with a NMTC investment of $10 million, provided the largest allocation of tax credits to the project.
“At HOPE, we direct our New Markets Tax Credits towards projects that, in the absence of our involvement, would otherwise not occur,” said HOPE Chief Program Officer Cassandra Williams. “The opportunity to finance the construction of a new hospital in Ripley, Miss., to stabilize and grow the economy while expanding access to essential medical services, aligned neatly with our mission and goals for the program.”
Through the U.S. Treasury Department, the New Markets Tax Credit Program was designed to increase economic development in under-resourced communities. Since the program’s launch in 2002, HOPE said it has used its more than $190 million in NMTC allocations to finance over 90 projects that have created approximately 3,700 jobs in the Deep South states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee