Rockwood
Neighborhood

The Rockwood community has an average life expectancy that is 10-15 years less than the rest of Portland Metro area. The Rockwood neighborhood was historically a White, middle-class suburb in unincorporated Multnomah County. In 1987 the Oregon Supreme Court forced Gresham to annex its land into the city of Portland. At the same time, Portland was intentionally displacing Black Americans from its North and Northeast Portland neighborhoods while refugee and immigration agencies placed thousands of clients in the cheap apartments of the area. It has since been long neglected and under-resourced, and the home to many marginalized communities who face gentrification. The Rockwood neighborhood is now filled with generational trauma and frequent gang violence among its residents. Rockwood is what many historically oppressed communities call home out of financial necessity.

Lord, we pray for your Spirit to cover the parents who tuck in their little ones at night to the sound of neighborhood gunshots. We pray over the children, teenagers, and young adults of color who were born into the harmful effects of racial discrimination. We pray for healing among those in this area with mental and physical disabilities who are unable to work. We cry out for redemption of the Rockwood neighborhood that it will be a place of racial reconciliation, adequate resources, and safety.