By Kris McDowell
Prosper Portland has announced the 18 projects that will be the recipients of the $1.42 million Community Livability Grants for the 2024-25 fiscal year, leveraging more than $1 million in private investment. Five of the projects are in the Central Eastside: Ecotrust, PHAME Academy, Portland Street Art Alliance, Kickstand Comedy and Miracle Theatre Group. The grants to these organizations range from just under $5,000 to $125,000.
Prosper Portland Executive Director Kimberly Branam said, “These grants highlight our long-standing commitment to fostering thriving, resilient neighborhoods. We are pleased to make these investments in community-serving projects and support the organizations that serve our city’s diverse populations and neighborhoods.”
The Community Livability Grant Program gives priority to projects that improve access to jobs and workforce development services; support wealth creation opportunities for small business owners; honor and enhance the neighborhood’s cultural diversity and history; deliver a community asset tailored to the community’s expressed priorities and opportunities; and advance goals of area-specific action plans. The evaluation committees for each area included representatives from community organizations, neighborhood and business associations, non-profit organizations, individual business owners and Prosper Portland staff.
Ecotrust The Redd Food Hub is receiving $47,865 for improvements to their commercial kitchen including installing a Type 1 hood HVAC system. The commercial kitchen space is part of a working hub and event space located on a two-block campus in the heart of Portland’s Central Eastside district.
PHAME Academy, a fine and performing arts academy serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has been granted $125,000 for a new roof and window/door systems for PHAME’s new home that will open in 2026. “Since our founding in 1984, we’ve shared space with other organizations, and we are beyond thrilled to be working towards an accessible home built for making art. Finally, our students will be able to learn to dance in a room with mirrors, paint in a room that allows them to wash their brushes, and learn and perform in a state-of-the-art accessible facility utilizing the best in contemporary technology,” said CEO Anya Roberts-Toney.
The Portland Street Art Alliance’s (PSAA) funds ($25,000) will be used for a public arts mural highlighting visual arts in supporting communities of need. PSAA was founded in 2012 by Executive Director Tiffany Conklin and works to advance street art culture by empowering artists to activate the spaces where we live, work and play. Conklin said, “We have been planning the Streets of Hope mural for almost two years and finally secured enough grant funding to make it happen.” The mural is being designed and painted by Portland-based comic book illustrator and artist Damon Smyth, who worked with PSAA on the mural on the back of Broadway Grill. Streets of Hope will be painted across two large walls on the back of the building at 810 SE Belmont St.
Last fall, Kickstand Comedy opened their brick and mortar space and the grant funds will be used to make upgrades to the space. Artistic Director Dylan Reiff said, “We are so thrilled to receive the Community Livability Grant as we continue the renovation of our inner SE live arts venue and comedy training center. With the continued growth of our nationally recognized comedy training center we are able to use the funds to add additional classroom space and connect our venue space with the other side of our building where we are planning the activation of a lounge area in advance of 2025. We’re also using the funds to help with some general upgrades for audience experience.”
Miracle Theatre Group (aka Milagro) provides extraordinary Latino theatre, culture and arts education experiences for the enrichment of all communities. The $4,875 grant they were awarded will go toward capital improvements. Executive Director Dañel Malan-González said it will “cover the cost of roof repair, so we won’t need buckets in our basement this winter, refinishing of our Zocalo floor to make it all new and shiny, and repair to our Milagro marquee outside the theatre entrance.”
More on the Livability Grants and the other organizations awarded funds in this grant cycle can be found at bit.ly/4dLkKFc.
Muralist Damon Smyth working with Ground Score Association members on the mural design. Photo by PSAA/Tiffany Conklin.
