Celebrating recent growth at Rockwood CDC

We have grown significantly over the past two years. COVID has made it painfully obvious that the multicultural and multilingual population of East Multnomah County was not reached with government social services programs. The community was impacted by COVID more than other parts of the county and was underserved by medical outreach. The normal social service agencies were overwhelmed and there was a need for others to step up — our team answered that call.

We stepped in to fill this gap — partnering with Providence, Trillium, Wallace Medical, and the Oregon Health Authority to fill this gap through its historic community engagement programs.

We then added multiethnic food outreach initiatives by forming a food collaborative, added housing initiatives through a partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation, and finally added a Small Business development collaborative — partnering with the US Small Business Administration.

Just last month we formed a new Community Development Financial Institution (Oregon CAN) to help bring small business financing into the area, which will help drive future economic growth for underserved entrepreneurs in Rockwood and East Multnomah County.

Rockwood CDC now has a reputation for delivering on its promises and providing outstanding value to its partners in health, food, housing, and small business development because of its focus on collaboration and collaborative funding with small ethnically diverse nonprofits in East Multnomah County. As such, we are now becoming better known locally and increasingly successful in bringing new state, federal and private programs, and investments into East Multnomah County.