People

An Entrepreneur for Others

Harris Rosen knew poverty firsthand, growing up in the slums of New York’s Bowery. But he was raised to work hard and value education, and he earned a degree in hotel administration from Cornell University.

After being fired from Disney World he decided to give into, what he calls, “his awful, defective entrepreneurial gene” and he went out on his own in business.

He invested his entire $20,000 in savings for a down payment for a Quality Inn hotel in Florida. He turned that around and eventually developed the successful chain of Rosen Hotels and Resorts in Orlando.

By 1993, the now millionaire, wanted to give back. He chose to ‘adopt’ a nearby run-down neighborhood called Tangelo Park, a blighted community of low-income, minority residents with a high crime rate.

Rosen understood the power of education, so he created and funded the “Tangelo Park Program”, which gives every neighborhood child educational support – from free preschool through high school and full tuition, with room and board, to Florida colleges.

High school graduations rose from 50% to 100% and as of 2021, over 200 Tangelo Park students had graduated college.

Crime is way down and quality of life is up, and even the local sheriff now calls Tangelo Park “a quiet oasis.”

Proof positive that helping others, helps us all.

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