The Rosewood Initiative

Classique Floors Owner Judith Huck (left) poses with Interior Designer Annette Leoni-Idler at their Ladies’ Night, where they hosted a dozen local women owned businesses at their store in Rosewood (14127 SE Stark St).  Rosewood ladies, if you missed out, they hope to host another one this coming fall!

Judith was recently awarded the 2013 Oregon State Small Business Person of the Year by the US Small Business Administration.  We are so proud to have such a fantastic, successful and community minded business owner in the Rosewood District. Way to go, Judith and Classique Floors team!!

Rosewood got a fresh coat of paint last Saturday and we are looking good! A group of about 25 volunteers came over to help spruce up our new space. Special thanks to our friends for donating their time, talent and tools to make it happen: Manuel Morales, Stark Firs, Miller Lopez, Kelly and Dave Pauli at Freedom FourSquare, Habitat for Humanity, PSU Architecture Department, Lt. John Scruggs, John McVay, Tom Lewis with Centennial Community Association and our many neighbors.

Next up, flooring…lighting…and HEAT!

Stop by to check out the work in progress and see how you can help, Tuesday-Friday from 2-6pm (16126 SE Stark).

Looking forward to seeing you and hearing your Rosewood story at the radio recording for OPB’s Think Out Loud Our Town series: Monday, April 15th at 6:30pm at Papas Pizza (16321 SE Stark).

Over the past couple of weeks we have had Multnomah County work crews, Lynwood Friends Church, and lots of committed community members helping us get started on our HUGE new space…

We are looking forward to finishing construction and opening Rosewood in the next couple of months!

There’s still a ton of work to do, contact us at jenny@rosewoodinitiative.org if you can help with materials, labor or financial support.

“If it wasn’t for all of you, none of this would be happening,” Carlos Chavez with Morpheus Youth Project.

We are having so much fun celebrating the holidays in Rosewood! Today Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office played Santa Claus, bringing a Rosewood family hundreds of gifts and smiles…THANK YOU MCSO!!!!

Last Saturday we had a fantastic community party, over 150 people were there making arts and crafts, hula hooping, visiting with Santa and connecting with each other. So much fun, thanks everyone that helped out and came to celebrate another great year in Rosewood!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church on 162nd Ave is holding a winter coat drive for Rosewood! If you know families in our area that NEED help staying warm this year, or, if you’d like to donate a new or gently used coat, please contact us: jenny@rosewoodinitiative.org

Local families can also sign up at our holiday party on Saturday, December 8th from 2-5pm at 16126 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97233

Big thank you to St. George for their generosity!

Happy Thanksgiving, Rosewood! We are so grateful to all of our community members, partners and friends for joining us on this adventure!

Check out these two articles recently published in the Oregonian:

Rosewood backpack program at Oliver and Parklane Elementary Schools

Organizing in Rosewood

Photo by Jim Clark, Gresham Outlook

Caitlin Morrison, Franklin High School student and organizer behind the Oliver and Parklane Backpack project, needs our help! This program is providing food for about 40 elementary students every single weekend and allows them to come to school Monday morning ready to learn instead of hungry.  We’re looking for groups, organizations or churches that could sponsor the program by taking ONE weekend a month.  It isn’t a huge commitment and it helps immensely!  Contact us at: jenny@rosewoodinitiative.org

SUN coordinators Kyle Curtis and Lucy Adams are asking for donations to stock the schoools’ pantries for the short term,

Bring donations to the 2nd Annual Rosewood Holiday Party, Saturday, December 8th from 2-5pm at the old Cue’s Billiards (16126 SE Stark, Portland, OR 97233). Your donation earns you a raffle ticket and helps support Rosewood youth!!

Protein sources:

Canned soup

Canned ravioli

Canned tuna

Jars of peanut butter

 Healthy snacks:

Healthy Granola bars

Peanut butter crackers

Trail mix packets

 Fruit sources:

Canned fruit or fruit cups

Applesauce in individual serving containers

The Rosewood Revitalization series is in full swing! We have held two workshops with dozens of volunteers and are having lots of fun providing great services and self-care skills with the Rosewood community.  Big thanks to all of you that have come out to support and participate!

If you haven’t had a chance to make it out, we have two weeks left! Join us the next two Mondays, October 29th and November 5th from 5-8pm for free massages, Reiki, hair styling, portraits, and guest speakers…our finale on November 5th will include a special performance from the SEI youth drumline!!
The series is being held at the old Cue’s Billiards next to Su Casa Imports, 16126 SE Stark, Portland, OR 97233.

It’s been a while since our last blog post, we have been so busy!!

Our contracts are signed with Multnomah County and Portland Development Commission, so let’s take a moment to celebrate! We couldn’t do our work without this institutional support and without all of you helping to make it happen. We’ll be ready, so so so soon, to start construction on Rosewood Cafe…

Here’s a few of the things we’ve been up to over the past weeks:

Hip hop night in partnership with Morpheus Youth Project, GUIA (Generations United in Action), City of Portland gang outreach workers and many others:

Salsa making party in the Lynwood Friends community garden:

Impromptu bike repair day at Rosewood Cafe, just one example of how our space is used on a daily basis:

Please stay in touch via our email updates, this blog and FaceBook group page: Rosewood Initiative.  Thank you everyone for your continued support!!!

Thanks again to Dave Schrenk for helping us document the making of “The Eyes of All,” by muralists Antwoine Thomas and Addie Boswell, painted by the Rosewood community.

Rosewood could use a few things right now, who can help out?

Here’s a list of things we need in the short term, and as everyone knows, we always need volunteers and cash to support the work we’re doing! Construction is just around the corner…we promise!

*popsicles

*dry erase markers

*sidewalk chalk

*liquid hand soap

*light bulbs

*window paint

*paper cups

*juice

*ping pong balls

*art supplies

*beads (especially letter beads)

*new t-shirts/hats/bags (for printing Rosewood gear!)

Stop by to drop off donations at our mural celebration this Saturday at 1pm!