After reviewing 95 applications in two rounds and two days of deliberation, these 12 efforts were selected by an advisory group of community members who work at the intersection of arts and social justice in the Portland region. Their award recommendation was accepted by Metro Council. This cycle's grants include efforts led by and directly supporting people experiencing homelessness, presently and formerly incarcerated people, Indigenous, Black and Latinx communities and BIPOC youth.
Camp E.L.S.O. Inc.: Your Street Your Voice, $20,000
North/Northeast Portland, Forest Grove, Parkrose, east Multnomah County, others locations TBD
Metro’s grant supports after school virtual programming where BIPOC youth will be paid to learn about the built environment and use design as a tool for racial justice.
The AfroVillage Homebase, $20,000
Portland’s Albina neighborhood
The site owned by Home Forward will host a refurbished MAX car, pods, and a gathering space, becoming an incubator to test the community services, amenities and partnerships that will be the foundation of the AfroVillage, a broad reaching effort to meet the essential needs of people experiencing homelessness with a focus on racial disparities and inequities.
The Vanport Mosaic: Walking through Portland with a Panther - the life of Mr. Kent Ford, All Power, $20,000
Virtual, various Portland locations including high schools
Linking current social justice efforts to critical local history, this grant supports a new solo play that features the history, sites and stories of Black Portland leaders.
Tin Can Phone, $7,200
Virtual and various regional locations
An inclusive collective of presently and formerly incarcerated artists will work together in locations around the region to produce a podcast series of investigative journalism, mutual self-exploration and the restoration of people that have been significantly harmed by incarceration.
Friends of Noise/City Repair: Youth Power PDX, $19,500
Virtual and Portland TBD
Metro’s grant supports two cycles of a 3-4 month long leadership program in the planning, building and running of youth led events based towards intersectional social justice and art.
Atabey Medicine Apprenticeship Program, $20,000
Various regional locations
Atabey Medicine, in partnership with Wild Diversity, Brown Girl Rise, Mudbone Grown, Portland Plant Medicine and the City Repair Project, will use Metro’s grant to create a platform for healing by training the next generation of BIPOC healers and herbalists, connecting people to each other and the land.
Centro Cultural Del Condado De Washington: Arts + Cultural Events at Centro, $20,000
Virtual, Hillsboro, Cornelius and TBD Washington County
Metro’s grant supports five culturally specific events at Centro to build community and strengthen sense of belonging; to promote the visibility and cultural expression of Washington County’s Latinx community.
Eena Festival, $5,250
Southwest Portland
An Indigenous-led festival in late 2021 will raise awareness about non-human led restoration, share education about Traditional Ecological Knowledge and create a safe, welcoming means to increase BIPOC access to nature.
Community Development Corporation of Oregon: Food for All in Rockwood, $15,000
Gresham
Addressing food security has never been more important. Metro’s grant will support Rockwood Speaks! sessions where paid, trusted community liaisons engage culturally specific groups about access to food and the 2-year food security work led by CDC of Oregon.
Hacienda CDC: Hacienda’s Portland Mercado, $15,000
Southeast Portland
Especially hard hit by COVID-19, Metro’s grant will help sustain the Portland Mercado and the community of Latinx entrepreneurs they support, and when safe, celebrate the resiliency of the community they serve with music, art and delicious food.
Triple Echo Studios: We Can Be Heroes, $20,000
Virtual, Gresham
Project partners will create a 12-part STEAM focused comic book series and short film featuring Gresham landmarks and a BIPOC cast, crew and characters, with production sourcing resources and food from locally owned businesses. The series will be aimed toward 3rd graders and will be broadly distributed.
Unite Oregon City: Oregon City Schools are "No Place for Hate," $11,000
Oregon City
Metro’s grant will support a two-year collaboration between students, staff and parents working to address bullying and bias by bringing the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate program to every school in the Oregon City School District.