Affordable housing can often provide the necessary foundation to building a successful future for families.

ROSE Community Development is a non-profit organization dedicated to making outer Southeast Portland a better place to live. The name ROSE is an acronym for Revitalizing Outer South East, and is founded in the belief that affordable housing allows people to better themselves and improve their lives.

Their first project was to revitalize a house in Lents for a low-income family in 1992. Since then, their work to revitalize the community goes further than housing. ROSE now works to improve the economic conditions of Southeast Portland, and give people the tools to better support themselves and their community.

Currently, ROSE offers many programs to help revitalize Outer South East. Some of these programs are:

  • The Residents Assets Program – As part of this program, ROSE Resident Assets Coordinators help ROSE  housing properties build connected communities where residents thrive, with an emphasis on opportunities for children and supporting family resiliency.
  • Lents Youth Initiative –  this program is a year-round program that engages youth ages 14-19 living in outer southeast Portland, with emphasis on equitable access for low-income youth and communities of color.
  • Baby Booster Initiative – Baby Booster is a collective impact initiative that strives to improve the health of babies and families with young children.

If you’d you’d like to get involved with ROSE Community Development, check out their 3rd Annual Winter Mixer. Slated for Wednesday, Dec. 14 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. the event will benefit the Emergency Loan Fund which helps families in need of financial assistance.

For this week on PRP.fm’s award-winning Community Voices series, we feature from the 2015 archive, ROSE Community Development. The podcast, featuring interview sessions with members of the organization, is below.

PRP