Street Roots is proud to announce the next evolution in the Rose City Resource Guide, a new Web site that will revolutionize the way people experiencing homelessness and poverty and social workers access services in the metro region.
The new Web site — www.rosecityresource.org — is user-friendly with the most updated list of services and information for people living in crisis in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
After clicking on each service you will find mapping functions, bus lines, hours, and what specific services are offered from that each agency. Each service is displayed with easy printing functions.
(The Rose City Resource offers the latest information on clothing, counseling and mediation, dental, domestic violence, employment and training, financial assistance, food boxes, food stamps, GLBTQI services, health care, hospital emergency rooms, hotlines, legal services, leisure and entertainment, meals, pet care, public restrooms, recovery services, renters resources, shelters, syringe exchanges, transitional housing, utility assistance, veterans and youth services.)
All of the services on the site are also available in Spanish.
And that’s not all. When Street Roots began this project we looked at many Web sites that offer listings of services about poverty and homeless in Portland and across the country. While many groups offer specific information about services, none had developed a centralized place for education and empowerment. How could we create a Web site that wasn’t just a hand out, but instead offered a deeper perspective on the issues of homelessness, poverty and civil rights? We wanted to dig deeper, so, we did.
Under the “Policy” section, we offer a place for students, researchers, journalists, community organizers and others to access information about homelessness and poverty. You will find annual reports for each year of Portland’s 10-year plan along with reports on affordable housing, the latest reports locally and nationally from institutes and think-tanks on the issue, and the latest thinking on messaging and talking points. If you care about the homeless and poverty issues, and are a policy geek, this is the place for you.
Under the “Know Your Rights” section readers and organizers will find the latest laws affecting homelessness and poverty, how to appeal those laws/legal services at people’s disposal. The goal of this section is to be a centralized location for homeless folks, social services workers, and community organizers to have quick and easy access to the latest information on laws commonly directed at people living in poverty. It’s also a bonus for researchers and students.
Link to us! On the home page you will find our logo and HTML code for organizations and media outlets to link to the Rose City Resource Guide. We encourage your group to use this!
For Street Roots, the Web site serves site as a database to update information and extract it directly into our layout programs for the print guide. We now have the ability to update the information in real time with the help of services themselves. On the homepage you will find a link with a form that goes directly to our resource specialist if updates are needed.
The popular print guide will continue to be printed and distributed throughout the region. In the past two years more than 120,000 English and nearly 20,000 Spanish guides have been distributed to more than 300 public/private and faith-based groups working with people on the streets.
The guide has been overwhelmingly successful, cutting down on staff time for agencies creating makeshift lists. More importantly, it’s a tool for relationship building, education and accessing up to date information on services available to people in need.
Israel Bayer
Street Roots Executive Director
Help us continue to serve the community by donating to the Rose City Resource via a secure link through our friends at Democracy in Action. Donate today!
Partners and kudos:
- Street Roots partnered with volunteers from the City of Gresham Maps and Data Services Program, Americorps NWSA, and a slew of local open source web developers and local businesses including Metal Toad Media, Incite Development, OpenSourcery, Shomeya Inc., happy, inc., Evoltech, drewish.com, and numerous other community developers from the Portland Drupal User Group to make the site a reality. Also on the team, donating her time long-distance via the interwebs, was Austin TX designer Andrea Couch from Creative Pickle.
- Sarah Beecroft, a local Web page designer, should be thanked profusely for driving the entire project and connecting Street Roots to the many groups that helped make this project possible.
- The print edition of the Rose City Resource is made possible through the partnership of Street Roots, the City of Portland, 211 Info and the United Way of Columbia-Willamette.