| Father Chris Riley AM | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| School | Salesian |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | Christopher Keith Riley 1954 Echuca, Victoria |
| Religious career | |
| Profession | Teacher and youth worker |
| Previous post | Principal, Boys Town |
| Present post | CEO, Youth Off The Streets |
| Website | http://www.youthoffthestreets.com.au/ |
Christopher Keith "Chris" Riley AM, an Australian Roman Catholic Salesian priest, is the founder and CEO of the charity Youth Off The Streets.
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Riley was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1954 and grew up on a dairy farm in the district. In 1973 he graduated from a school run by the Salesians. He was inspired by the movie Boys Town and went on to train as a teacher. He has worked as a teacher, youth worker, probation officer, residential care worker and principal of the charity Boy’s Town.[1] In 1982 he was ordained a priest at Oakleigh, Victoria.
Riley founded Youth Off The Streets (YOTS) in 1991[1] with a food van delivering meals to homeless youths in the Kings Cross area in Sydney. In 1997 he opened Key College independent high school in Surry Hills where he pioneered a "flexible education" model to help youths living on the streets return to school.
Today he is the CEO of Youth Off The Streets, which has grown to include crises care, refuges, schools, drug and alcohol programs that employ more than 150 people and has over 800 volunteers.[1] Youth Off The Streets Overseas Relief Fund has projects in Ethiopia, Albania, East Timor, Indonesia, Philippines, and Tanzania. Riley worked with the Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah helped build an orphanage in Aceh, Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami.
He makes frequent media appearances on behalf of YOTS including a weekly radio segment, broadcast on 2UE in Sydney and 2CC in Canberra.
In the decade from 2000 to 2009, Youth Off The Streets received $3.5 million in donations from the Australian gambling industry, particularly poker machines.[2]
Riley lobbied against the taxation of gambling, stating that "the Government won't fund services like mine and are now also attacking the revenues that we previously did have available." With respect to his position on the effect of gambling on society, in 2003 he stated in a radio interview "I acknowledge that the great problem facing the community is people who are addicted to gambling and I call for the clubs to put in place systems and supports to help people fight this addiction."[3][4]
In December 2011 it was revealed that Riley had lent his name in support of a campaign by Clubs Australia against proposed mandatory pre-committment limits for poker machines. Riley expressed his concern saying that a better way to tackle problem gambling was treatment and counselling, not legislation.[5][6]
In 2006 Riley was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to disadvantaged youth through the establishment of Youth Off The Streets and the development of a range of assistance and mentoring initiatives for adolescents and to the welfare of children overseas through humanitarian assistance efforts.[7] In 2006, he also received the Human Rights Medal from the then Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (shared with broadcaster Phillip Adams).[8]
On 20 April 2010 Riley was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Western Sydney in recognition of his work.[9]