Here at rci, we know a little something about community.

Ripple Community Inc. (RCI) was created in 2015 with the mission to nurture community and connection in Allentown by fostering a sense of community among our neighbors who have traditionally been marginalized and by cultivating connections across social boundaries.

In 2018, Ripple Community Inc. launched its housing program, the RCI Village, following a justice housing model developed by the highly successful Jubilee Housing program in Washington, DC.

  • In just five years, the RCI Village housing program has grown to serve over 30 of our neighbors who had previously been homeless or housing unstable.

  • Beginning with permanent, deeply affordable housing, the RCI Village program provides wraparound services—including individualized staff support, connections to specialized service providers, and community building events and activities—that provide the support our residents need to successfully maintain their housing.

  • To date, 83% of residents who have ever been part of the RCI Village program are still stably housed.

RCI is pursuing an exciting new project—RCI Village West—that will repurpose a former church property at 1547 W. Chew Street into 12 safe, healthy, deeply affordable apartment homes, a new community center, and three medical respite rooms (the first of their kind in the region).

We love to talk about our work and mission, but as you will see in this video, our community members always say it best.

 

RCI Village West

Strong neighborhoods begin with safe spaces.

 

REPURPOSING A BEAUTIFUL HISTORIC PROPERTY.

The RCI Village West project is the adaptive reuse of the property located at 1547 Chew Street in Allentown. This property was generously donated to RCI by the congregation of Emmanuel United Church of Christ, who worshiped in this space for 100 years.

A NEW WAY TO SERVE OUR COMMUNITY FOR YEARS TO COME.

We plan to convert the building into a vibrant multipurpose facility, including 12 new units of affordable housing, administrative office space for RCI, a community center, and three permanent medical respite rooms, in partnership with Valley Health Partners Street Medicine.

SAFE, HEALTHY, AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR OUR NEIGHBORS.

The RCI Village housing program provides justice housing — which is safe, healthy, deeply affordable housing with onsite and nearby services. This is a proven approach to helping individuals and families flourish by permanently exiting harmful cycles of housing instability.