About Us
Our Story
The Community Development Corporation of Oregon (CDCO) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization helping residents of East Multnomah County thrive. In this underserved community, we see our role as a hub for resources, collaboration, influence, and innovation.
Our strategy focuses on housing, community health, economic development, and food systems strengthening.
Founded in 2013, we have grown to 50 staff members and a budget of $11 million. About half of our revenue is distributed to smaller, culturally specific non-profits and directly to our neighbors. We engage with about 30,000 of our neighbors in a single year.
We are a minority-led organization. About two-thirds of our board and leaders reflect the diverse community we serve. Although our programs are open to everyone, minority participation and leadership are usually over 90%.
Our goal is to help communities thrive today and inspire system-level change that fosters lasting health and prosperity. One of our core competencies is creating and nurturing diverse collaboratives to accomplish this change.
We currently run collaboratives on the Social Determinants of Health, East Metro Leaders, faith community engagement, intergovernmental cooperation, and houselessness, all with the aim of influencing systemic change.
Partnership is also key to making change. We partner with agencies at all levels, including:
- Federal (USDA, SBA, USCDC-P, FEMA),
- State (OHA, OHCS, ODA),
- Regional (Metro), county (JOHS, REACH/Achieve),
- And city (Gresham).
We are funded by philanthropies like OCF, and corporations like HealthShare, CareOregon, and major banks.
We are committed to continuous improvement of our initiatives. By regularly evaluating outcomes and results, we identify areas for improvement and make informed course corrections. This ongoing assessment ensures we meet the communities' changing needs and helps us build lasting relationships with those we support.
By the Numbers
In the past 12 months:
Supported
Our Vision
We dream of communities:
- with rising levels of prosperity;
- where employment and decent housing are accessible by all;
- where health outcomes are excellent;
- where vibrant community life emerges from diversity; and,
- where all show compassion to those who are in need.
Our Mission
We provide pathways for moving from poverty to prosperity by:
- Expanding the supply of decent housing;
- Supporting economic development;
- Increasing access to healthcare and encouraging healthy behavior;
- Creating and sustaining public-private partnerships;
- Aligning the strategies and resources of the educational, faith-based, governmental, capital, social service, business and healthcare sectors.
Our Values
Everyone that works with us and for us is personally involved in the lives of our community. This keeps us relationally connected to our neighbors and community. We intentionally invest in relationships as we invest in other aspects of community development.
We are here for the long-term, even when things get hard. We do not launch programs and then leave but we are here till our vision has been accomplished.
We pursue the disconnected and bring them into relationship through what is often hard relational work that is rooted in listening, humility, and learning.
Everything we do is built on an ethic of inclusion, diversity, and justice. Reconciliation is hard work and we are committed to building diverse relational bridges that lead to true justice.