“Bold visions are essential to fuel hope, energize capacity and extend reach to what might be.”

– James W. Rouse

Enterprise at Twenty-Five

“We can’t accept life as it is in this country. It has got to change. And it has got to be changed radically by us.” So said James W. Rouse when he and Patty Rouse devoted their lives to launching and nurturing The Enterprise Foundation in 1982.

Our name has changed but the mission has remained:  to ensure that all low-income people in the United States have the opportunity for fit and affordable housing and to move up and out of poverty into the mainstream of American life.

The 1980s were rich and eventful years in the community development field, and Enterprise was in the thick of it. Working with community-based organizations, Enterprise helped to develop new tools and vital resources. Enterprise also collaborated with local, state and federal policy leaders to help introduce groundbreaking initiatives, such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. By the end of the ‘80s, we had helped to create nearly 9,600 affordable homes.

By the 1990s, Enterprise emerged as a leader in a movement that was gaining momentum and national attention. The decade would bring remarkable success, including the creation of the Section 4 capacity-building program and the preservation of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). And in 1999, Enterprise marked the 100,000th affordable home that we had helped to build or preserve in the United States.  

Enterprise welcomed a new century – and confronted unprecedented challenges. 
In this decade, Enterprise responded swiftly to local community needs in New York City after 9-11 and in the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Enterprise also helped to create new financial products and community development tools such as the New Markets Tax Credit program and Green Communities®.  In 2006, Enterprise celebrated the 200,000th affordable home created with our support. As we embark on our next 25 years, Enterprise and its vast national network continue demonstrating Jim Rouse‘s belief that all of us can do better with our lives, our work, our purpose. It’s a vision that will likely go on inspiring us to stretch beyond our own limits for decades to come.