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2021 Community & Civic Engagement Small Grant Recipients

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SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition Awards $20,000 in Community & Civic Engagement Small Grants to 8 Community Projects for 2021.

Now in its 14th year, the Community & Civic Engagement Small Grants program funds small yet powerful community efforts aimed at increasing the number and diversity of people engaged in the community, strengthening community capacity to create social change, and increasing community impact on public decisions and community life. Delivering relief during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is an additional category considered in 2021.

Thank you to all 32 grant applications and our Small Grants Review Committee – Destinee Rogers, Keller Dean, and Linda Nettekoven – for their careful consideration and funding recommendations. Special thanks to Communications & Outreach Manager Paola De La Cruz for support and coordination of the program.

Community & Civic Engagement Small Grants are made possible by the City of Portland & the Office of Community and Civic Life. Below is a complete list of funded projects.

 

OrganizationProjectAmountDescription
P4MEPeople for Mutual Education 2021 Pamphlets and Events$3,150We are People for Mutual Education (P4ME), a group based in Southeast Portland that creates pamphlets on racial and social justice issues and shares them online. P4ME also presents learning opportunities that feature Black public thinkers and community members. We are partnering with The City Repair Project on our next pamphlet print run and associated events. Our goal is to broaden the reach of P4ME resources in our SE Portland neighborhood and beyond.
Passion ImpactYouth Learning Cohort$1,388Our Youth Learning Cohort is a 14-week experience for high school students to engage in social justice education and the creation/implementation of a social justice event for the larger community. Throughout the 14 weeks, students will attend workshops, read books/articles, and participate in group reflection and self -reflection in order to expand upon their social justice understanding. This will give youth the knowledge and power to create lasting change in their communities.
City RepairGrowing Justice$2,775Every year, City Repair provides educational and service learning opportunities such as the Village Building Convergence, Urban Permaculture Design Course and Village Building Design Course that facilitate learning environments for participants to explore participatory design of shared urban places. Growing Justice will use SEUL funding to provide honorariums to enable QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and unhoused folks to teach and to share their voices during our 2021 calendar of events
Congo Peace ProjectEducation Equity School Supply Drive & Community Gathering$2,755We hope to create a supply drive for Black, immigrant, and Congolese communities in Oregon and Congolese communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our goal is to distribute supplies such as pencils, notebooks, scissors, ACT and SAT prep books, and novels to BIPOC students in our community and across communities in the eastern Congo. Our goal is to distribute resources for educational equity to Black communities that have been historically under-resourced.
Black & Beyond the Binary CollectiveNight Out for Safety and Liberation PDX 2021$3,215Night Out for Safety and Liberation is an annual event that typically takes place on the first Tuesday of August where we redefine and re-imagine what public safety means for our communities. Since 2017, we have hosted the largest events in the nation. These funds will help us bring together community members at Tabor Commons to reimagine community safety together for our fifth year! We will partner with local organizations, neighbors, and the Umoja Youth.
Impact NWBrentwood Darlington Community Center Garden$2,757Impact NW will provide opportunities for meaningful community engagement, family and community health, and food justice through the creation of a community garden, located at the Brentwood Darlington Community Center. The project will benefit low-income children and their families who are participating in our Early Childhood services. The garden will provide safe, family-centered activities, opportunities to strengthen community ties, and healthy seasonal food for program participants, as well as the larger Brentwood Darlington neighborhood.
Free Arts NWCasting Pods – Sowing the Seeds of Engagement$1,080With Larkspur Portland, Free Arts NW will present three therapeutic horticulture workshops for elementary-aged children. These will feature free lunch, a brief age-appropriate introduction to and active SE Uplift community organization, and a creative plant-based project to be given or shared with the visiting community group.   One workshop will be recorded via the Echoes podcast to amplify the voices of community members and document the event.
Rahab’s SistersDiversifying Community Leadership at Rahab’s Sisters$2,880Rahab’s Sisters will recruit, train and support 10 new volunteer leaders from under-resourced communities that face barriers to participating in community leadership. Volunteer leaders will manage our weekly meal teams, which provide up to 300 meals, along with essential supplies and mental health support, every week to vulnerable houseless neighbors in the Montavilla neighborhood.

 

For other resources on grant opportunities throughout Oregon click here.

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