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REACH CDC in Portland, Oregon
REACH CDC Inc. is one of the most successful affordable housing providers in Portland, Oregon. REACH focuses on providing affordable rental housing targeted at low-income residents of Portland, many of whom were previously homeless.

The projects range from single-room-occupancy structures and multifamily properties to single-family housing. REACH develops and manages its projects throughout the city. Since its inception in 1986, REACH has added more than 1,000 units to the city's affordable housing stock. However, the organization is considering expanding its services into the surrounding areas.

In addition to its housing efforts, REACH runs a home-repair program called the Community Builders Program for homeowners who have low income or are disabled. To date, more than 3,500 repairs have been provided for more than 1,000 families. REACH also provides other services for its tenants including job training and an individual development account or IDA program for its teen residents called YouthSave, which provides financial literacy and matched savings accounts.

REACH's program support comes from public and private partnerships including loans, investments, such as equity equivalent investments, and grants from local government, financial institutions, and philanthropic organizations. The organization continues to entertain new partnership opportunities especially in construction and permanent financing for new developments.

For more information, visit the Web site.

RARE Helps Rural Communities
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE), administered through the University of Oregon, is a program aimed at helping rural communities improve their capacity to impact economic, social, and environmental conditions by providing trained graduate students who will live and work there for a year. RARE is currently supported through grants from several state and federal agencies, with each participating community providing $17,000 of the approximately $37,000 needed to place, train, and support a full-time RARE participant.

For more information, please visit RARE's Web site www.uoregon.edu/~rare/.
[Published in News from the Districts, Community Developments, Spring 2003]

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