2021 cycle
Metro will accept applications for the 2021 cycle Aug. 3 through (new deadline) Oct. 2 at noon. Grant awards will be announced in early January. Get started by reading the application handbook.
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2020 grants awarded
These 11 efforts are led by and directly support our youth of color, Latinx, Black, Slavic, immigrant and refugee, Indigenous and disability community.
Meet the 2020 grantees
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Metro’s Community Placemaking grants help people tackle community challenges or opportunities through arts-based, equity-focused efforts.
What is Community Placemaking?
Community Placemaking has a few key ingredients. The idea comes from the community the effort is intended to serve. Those community members, especially people of color or other historically marginalized communities, play a role in making it happen. Arts or cultural activities bring people together to strengthen their connection to each other and the places they care about.
Program objectives
Placemaking: People’s connections to each other and to places they care about are strengthened.
Equity: People of color and members of historically marginalized communities have power and resources to influence their neighborhoods and communities.
Partnerships: People’s efforts are maximized because they work in partnership with each other and with Metro.
Leadership: People participate in projects and decisions that affect them.
2021 grant cycle
Up to $190,000 is available for grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for the 2021 cycle. No matching funds are required. Metro will accept applications August 3 through (new deadline) October 2 at noon. One-on-one assistance is available and encouraged. Contact information appears below. You can watch one of the information sessions from August. The information presented is the same in each.
Who is eligible to apply?
Community Placemaking grants support community-driven initiatives, and partnerships are key to a competitive proposal. Given that, anyone meeting the following conditions can apply:
- Community-based organizations with nonprofit status.
- Community groups or individuals without nonprofit status must partner with a fiscal sponsor, such as a state certified, federally approved 501(c) nonprofit or a public agency. Learn more about a fiscal sponsor’s role in the application handbook beginning on page 7.
- Public agencies must have community partners involved in the implementation of the project and a plan to involve the broader public.
- If you are a past recipient of a Community Placemaking grant and your grant was exclusively an event (spanning a single or multiple days), you may not reapply the year following your award.
2020 grant cycle
Metro accepted applications from November 22 to February 3 and received 79 applications requesting more than $1.6 million to do important work around the region. With $193,000 to award, these 11 community-led efforts were selected after two rounds of review and a daylong deliberation by a group of community members, predominantly people of color, who work at the intersection of arts and social justice in the Portland region. Their award recommendation was accepted unchanged by Metro Council. This cycle's grants include efforts led by and directly supporting our youth of color, Latinx, Black, Slavic, immigrant and refugee, Indigenous and disability community.
Read about the 2020 grantees
Past recipients
Community Placemaking efforts are creative at their core and can take many forms. Get started thinking by looking at recipients of the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 cycles to see the range of efforts this program has supported.