Jenny Glass
2018 Prize Winner
On the corner of SE 162nd and Stark, the Rosewood Initiative community center’s doors swing open every few minutes. Nearby, upbeat Latin sounds float through the air from speakers outside Su Casa Super Mercado. Families arrive at the center for an Arab-speakers focus group about current neighborhood priorities. Three Black elementary-school kids pull up on their bikes. “Hi Jenny!” they shout.
They’re greeting Jenny Glass, founder and executive director of Rosewood Initiative — a community-building organization in East County.
Glass’s six-foot frame, bright blonde hair and wide blue eyes could seem out of place in a place as diverse as Rosewood. But for the past seven years, she has been ingrained in the community, listening to and empowering its members to help create the safer, more just neighborhood they want.
The Rosewood neighborhood covers the Portland blocks that run from 150th to 174th and from NE Glisan to SE Main. According to Glass, more than 1,200 zero-to-4-year-olds live in the district. More than 25 languages are spoken, and high school students living in the district attend five different schools: Centennial, Reynolds, David Douglas, Parkrose, and Troutdale.
Glass moved to Portland 14 years ago, but her first real experience in Rosewood came through Americorps in 2011, when Glass worked with two police sergeants who were attempting asset-based community development.
“I literally just knocked on doors and told folks I’m learning about this community and people’s hopes and dreams,” she says. “I built relationships and drew people into the public safety effort.”
During those early conversations, the sense of despair some people had was really hard for Glass to hear. She’d hear comments like, “Why are you even trying? What do you think you’re doing? This is the hand we were dealt, and that’s the way it is.”
So she stayed put and built trust. She listened more.
“The second or third time you show up,” Glass says, “people are like, ‘OK, she’s sticking around. She’s doing something.’”
Now, with Rosewood Initiative stable, thriving, and hosting dozens of events each week, Glass’ time is spent developing community partnerships with other nonprofits and businesses, solving the “financial puzzle” through grant writing and event planning, and focusing on long-term strategic planning. She oversees seven full-time and four part-time staff members.
Glass is measured, unhurried, thoughtful. Her long-term vision for Rosewood Initiative includes land ownership, early-childhood services, and increased hopefulness among Rosewood-dwellers.
“Jenny has encouraged countless others to do amazing work in Outer East Portland over the years,” says Marissa Clarke, Rosewood Initiative’s associate director. “[She’s inspired] un-measurable investments in transportation, housing, community wellness, hope…the list goes on and on.”
Bottom Line for Portland:
For the past seven years, Glass has empowered East Portland’s Rosewood neighborhood by operating a community center that serves between 300 - 800 people each week who speak more than 25 languages.