Sabrina, Christa & Gary
Health Begins With Belonging
Maybelle Center is a community health organization working alongside neighbors in downtown Portland to address the root causes of social isolation. Through neighborhood programs, affordable housing, and assisted living, we build spaces where social health is treated as essential: where people are known, and relationships grow over time.
Because belonging isn’t a privilege. It’s a foundation for health.
Donors and Partners
Social health is a gap no existing system was built to fill. Not hospitals. Not shelters. Not social services. As a Donor or Community Partner, you’re helping us build what’s missing: the spaces, relationships, and sustained presence that allow Portlanders facing some of the greatest barriers to be known, valued, and connected.
Members and Residents
At Maybelle Center, you’re not defined by your circumstances. You’re known for who you are. For Members, that means a real community where you can connect and build lasting relationships. For Residents, it means a home where you’re treated with dignity from day one.
Staff and Volunteers
Our staff and volunteers don’t just deliver services. They invest in people over time, building the kind of trust that most systems were never designed to earn. Whether you’re looking for a place to belong or want to help someone else feel like they do, there’s a place for you here.
Video
Why the Work is so Important
Story
Hear from Marie about volunteering with Maybelle Center
Loneliness isn’t just painful. It’s a public health crisis.
When you’re excluded from the places where relationships form–work, school, community–you lose access to something essential: to be seen, to be known, to be connected. Over time, isolation can become something harder to undo: a belief that you don’t matter. That you have nothing to offer. That the world has moved on without you. That belief can become a health outcome.
Chronic social isolation carries the same mortality risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Yet no existing system is built to address social health. That gap is what Maybelle Center was built to fill.
Three pillars. One purpose: belonging.
Neighborhood Programs
Neighborhood Programs bring people together at our Center and in more than 35 affordable housing buildings across downtown Portland through arts, social groups, and weekly visits. In these spaces, Members are known for who they are, not defined by their circumstances.
Assisted Living
Macdonald Residence serves Portland’s hardest-to-house adults with complex behavioral health needs, many of whom have been turned away elsewhere. Here, Residents receive the specialized support they need, and they are known, valued, and treated with dignity. That’s not incidental to the care. It is the care.
Affordable Apartments
At our affordable apartments in Old Town, housing becomes a platform for belonging. On-site staff work to prevent eviction and connect residents to resources, but they don’t stop there. From day one, they welcome Residents into the broader Maybelle community, where people are known by name. Because a stable address should be the beginning of belonging, not the end of the story.
Membership means being invited in
We create welcoming spaces for all neighbors who need to belong, with a focus on low-income Portlanders facing mental health challenges or financial hardship. If you don’t meet the criteria below, let’s talk about the best way to get involved.
You’re a good fit if you:
Are 18 years or older
Want to connect with others
Identify as low-income
Currently have stable housing
Live in the downtown Portland area or can easily access the Center in Old Town
Are willing to sign our relationship agreement
The Many Faces of Belonging
Being seen. Being known. Having a place where you truly belong. These aren’t extras. They are foundations for health. For our downtown neighbors — and for all of us — connection isn’t a luxury.
Jacqueline
Brayden
Neal
Sandra
Tony
Lenos
Sabrina & Tracey
Stanley
Celeste, Wendy & Daniel
Pamela
Jackie
Stanley, Diane & Tim
Bonnie
Choir
Lazaro
A city where everyone belongs
Our vision is a Portland where all people–including those navigating mental illness or financial hardship–experience a genuine sense of belonging.
Our mission is to create inclusive opportunities for belonging that help reverse human isolation and its root causes, so people feel like they matter and play a role in our shared future.
Donate Today
You’re not funding a program. You’re funding the infrastructure of belonging.
Belonging doesn’t happen by accident. It takes gathering spaces, highly-trained staff, evidence-based programming, and consistent presence. And when stable housing is part of the picture, belonging and stability reinforce each other. All of it is sustained by people who believe social health matters.
Behind every open door, every familiar face, every moment someone feels seen, there is a donor who made it possible.
Give
Your contribution funds the non-clinical infrastructure that makes belonging possible: the relationships, the stability, the community.
Partner
Social isolation doesn’t have a single solution. It takes a network. When businesses and individuals invest in Maybelle, they’re investing in a proven model that builds belonging across downtown Portland.
Volunteer
Volunteering at Maybelle Center isn’t about checking a box. It’s about connecting with people in real, human ways. Your presence matters.