Building a safe, healthy, and vibrant community
I am thrilled to present our organization’s Annual Report, reflecting on the accomplishments and progress of the Rosewood team in the past year. The Rosewood team is a dynamic group of project managers, coordinators, navigators and leaders. Our work is intentional and personal. We address the immediate needs of our neighbors, while working on long range visions to make progress towards positive transformation for the community.
The growth of the Rosewood Community Hub nurtures the continued vibrancy of our neighborhood, our programming empowers greater self-determination among the community members we work with, and our partnerships ensure our neighbors are connected to vital resources and empowered to be aware and take action in decision-making processes.
There were so many exciting achievements this year! 2023 marked Rosewood’s first annual gala, uniting our longstanding supporters and partners while welcoming new ones to learn more about our impact in East Portland. Internally, we achieved year one strategic plan initiatives, enhancing our organizations capacity to meet the needs of our neighbors. Externally, we broke ground on the community garden element of our Community Hub by engaging in rigorous site evaluation to ensure we are grounded in regenerative agriculture practices.
With over 30 resource providers utilizing our Health & Wellness programming as a platform to make meaningful connections with East Portlanders, they remain critical spaces that are known to be culturally inviting and holistically supportive for our neighbors. Through our Economic Development programming we distributed over $10,000 in Rosewood bucks to the community which directly translated into revenue for locally-owned small businesses and
entrepreneurs. This work expanded to include Conversation Circles for entrepreneurs, and new workforce development capacity on our staff team.
In 2023, we provided tailored skill building workshops, distributed needed resources, and provided no barrier resource navigation in our Community Resilience programmatic focus area. To help combat summer heat waves, we worked with Multnomah County to provide portable AC units to vulnerable community members. We also brought the community together to connect and form lasting relationships by celebrating our rich diversity through cultural celebrations like an end-of-year holiday gathering, Día de Los Niños, Ramadan, and Tihar.
To our many supporters, I thank you for continuing to join us, in partnership, to build a safe, healthy and vibrant community where neighbors can thrive together. 2024 brings about so many exciting endeavors, I can’t wait to celebrate our collective achievements!
Sabrina Wilson Executive Director
The Community Hub Garden has made great progress towards becoming a reality in 2024. After much research on and observation of the site, our Community Garden Project Manager, Corey Pierson, developed an overall concept for a hybrid food forest/market garden design, and is currently developing that concept into a master plan to be approved by the Bureau of Land Services before we break ground. Once we have approval, expect to see a lot of change happening around the hub, including grazing goats, trees being trimmed and cut down, parking lots being de-paved, and lots and lots of new plants!
As a complement to our work developing a Community Hub, and to help us understand our place in the neighborhood, Lara Opeifa, who is interning with Rosewood through the Portland State University Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program, is working this year on creating a community asset map. Our mapping project studies the community amenities or ‘assets’ that support those living in the Rosewood service area. Using geospatial technologies, census data, and local observations, we are working to create a map that documents assets like child care centers, community gardens and grocery stores, while also highlighting where gaps in service exist and who is affected. We map both as a placekeeping or anti-displacement measure, and to demonstrate the importance of Rosewood’s services and presence.
Digital Equity & Literacy
Community Garden
Community Resilience Conversation Circles
Resource Distribution & Navigation
Rosewood Cares
Resource Navigation & Distribution
Resource Navigation and distribution continues to be a crucial part of our work. Our resource navigator, Fabiola Sanchez, is often the first point of contact for anyone who is interested in connecting with Rosewood. Fabiola holds a wealth of knowledge about the resources available in our region, and works one-on-one with participants. In 2023 she received over 350 navigation calls and visits, commonly focusing on TriMet Low Income Fare Enrollment & Fare Relief, utility assistance, legal services, English classes and our diaper program. Resource navigation is also important for building relationships and trust with community members. Well-resourced & connected communities are resilient, and we are building resilience through our navigation work.
Manju Community Member
“Ever since my youngest has been born, for instance, I’ve never had to purchase diapers. It’s been a really great service and benefit to me … we are able to get our bus passes, bus tickets, we are able to get our diapers and moreover, we are able to get a lot of information and resources that we would have never heard of.”
Health & Wellness Conversation Circles
Health & Wellness Fairs
Vaccine Clinics & Education
Wellness Wednesdays
Our Wellness Wednesday events have become a staple of our Health & Wellness programming, allowing community members to connect health-related resources on a regular basis and lowering barriers to accessing health services and enrolling in programs. The Wellness Wednesdays this year we had regular vaccine clinics scheduled in partnership with Providence Health Services providing COVID-19 and flu vaccines. Partners attended each event connecting and assisting community members in applying for SNAP, medicaid, medicare and understanding their benefits, and accessing library resources and legal support. During these monthly events we connected community members with diapers, Trimet Low Income Fare pass registration, and a food pantry.
Wednesday attendee
“I have found a lot of information about attorneys, health, education, just about everything. They practically support everything, yes, everything completely. The help they give with food pantries is also a great help for us right now, since the situation is really complicated and salaries are very low.”
Black Worker’s Center Exploration
Economic Development Conversation Circles
English Classes
Rosewood Saturday Celebrations
Small Business Enhancement Grant
Workforce Navigation
English Classes
Over the last year, The Rosewood Initiative has had a surge in the demand for English classes. In 2023, we had an average of 15-20 students per week regularly attending English classes, compared to past years with numbers of 10-15 students. As more community members recognize the value of effective communication in English for academic, professional, and social success, Rosewood has strived to provide classes for individuals seeking to enhance their language skills at a basic level.
Jaqueline English Class Student
“I have taken English Classes for a year and a half … It has made a difference. I can express myself better. I want to learn more to get a better job. I want to learn English to speak more fluidly and have better work. I was working at the cash register in a restaurant and there were a lot of Americans. If I improve my English and can speak fluidly, I can have aspirations of a better job and higher pay.
... before, I didn’t understand anything. Now I understand more but I still need to practice because I still can’t speak it well. I am very grateful for Fabiola and Rosewood, because they have supported us a lot.”
2023 was an exciting year for Rosewood Saturday Celebrations. This was our 3rd year of planning and hosting our makers’ market and we continued to adapt our space and use it in creative ways. We incorporated the backyard greenspace to host new entertainment options and fun family activities. Most importantly, this year we welcomed some brand new vendors to sell at the event, equipping them with market experience in a low barrier environment.
824 People attended throughout the summer
26 East Portland based vendors participated
$8,500 In vouchers went out to attendees and into the hands of vendors
Veronica Jeronimo
Morenita Linda
3rd year vendor at RSC
“We are just very thankful for the opportunities that Rosewood has given us. It’s just something that we didn’t expect when we first started ... The second year that we participated we were really excited because we bought a sign with the market we were able to save up and stuff, so that was one of the most exciting things. This year it’s been about being able to expand ourselves a little bit more. Rosewood has had a lot of help in that, in not only giving us the space to be here, but also just sharing who we are.”
Our strong partnerships help make our programs possible! These partnerships allow us to dynamically meet the changing needs of community members and make a strong impact despite our small but effective team.
Event Partners
• Community Service Network
• Providence Health & Services
• Multnomah County Library
Partners Sharing Our Space
• MetroEast Community Media
• Goodwill
• Trash for Peace
• Multnomah Arts Center
• Multnomah County DA
MAAP program
• Bike Works by p:ear
• Black Community of Portland
• Women SEW
Resource Distribution
• PDX Diaper Bank
• Clackamas Service Center
• Multnomah County
Emergency Cooling Program
• TriMet Low Income Fare and Fare Relief Program
• p:ear Everybody Bikes program
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSION PARTNERS
• TriMet
• Portland Parks & Recreation
• City of Portland Budget Office
• State of Oregon Charge Ahead EV
• Portland General Electric
• Prosper Portland
This year we got to work on implementing the strategic plan that we collaboratively created in 2022. We started with our Internal and External roadmaps, each broken into strategies, and then tactics within those. The roadmaps were operationalized into our project management software in order to track our progress, and we identified which tactics to tackle in year one through five. After assessing our progress, these are the highlights of our first year accomplishments.
Year 1 accomplishments :
Thank you to our supporters above 50k!
$3,658,169 $1,117,009 .9%
Make an BIG Impact with a Small Commitment: Become a Monthly Donor
Imagine being part of the connections that are built at our Rosewood Saturday Celebrations markets, where neighbors come together to celebrate and support small business owners. Monthly contributions of all sizes make big impacts, helping us sustain this vibrant space and fuel its growth. These dollars also enable our team to coordinate and deliver impactful programs such as wellness fairs that play a role in providing access to critical health services. By choosing to be a monthly donor you are actively participating in the creation of a well resourced, more connected community in East Portland. Please consider becoming a monthly donor to support this work!
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Our 2nd Annual Gala is on September 14th
