Bridge Meadows

Bridge Meadows brings the generations together to improve health and well-being through meaning, purpose, and belonging. Built around the concept of interdependence, our affordable housing communities support children who have experienced the foster care system, their adoptive families, and elders, who serve as mentors. Founded in 2005, and welcoming home our first residents to North Portland in 2011, Bridge Meadows remains the only intentional, intergenerational housing community of its kind in the region, and was the first in the country in an urban setting. Bridge Meadows is a community designed to, among other things, change the face of the foster care system. Every day, in the state of Oregon, over 10,800 children are in the system awaiting adoption or a reunion with their birth parents. For some of those children, that day will never come. Families who live at Bridge Meadows are provided a lifeline of support throughout their journey of adoption. We offer on-site counseling, cultural activities, workshops, support groups, and recreation as a resource for parents and healing for children. Most importantly, families are surrounded by elders who volunteer their time and energy on behalf of the community. Caring connections between families and grandparents are made every day. Elders at Bridge Meadows act as surrogate grandparents and mentors to the children and families who live here. Our elders volunteer their skills and talents, teaching arts and crafts, giving music lessons, and taking the kids to the park. This creates daily opportunities to engage with peers, parents, and children, which combats the deleterious effects of social isolation that aging adults frequently experience. Bridge Meadows’s “whole community” approach leverages the power of place, permanence, and shared social purpose to improve all residents’ housing stability, access to health resources, educational attainment, and community connection.