Congratulations 2025 SE Uplift Grant Recipients!

Help Save the Community Small Grants Program from Budget Cuts

This year the City of Portland must make drastic budget cuts to address a $93 million gap. Unfortunately, this puts the Community Small Grants Program on the chopping block. This 18 year old program is responsible for seeding many long-lasting community initiatives, such as gardens, murals, and free services for the unsheltered and underserved communities. It would be a tragedy to lose this critical program.

While there is still time, please tell the Mayor and City Council not to cut the Community Small Grants program from the Office of Community and Civic Life budget. All you have to do is click the button below to share your budget comment and testimony to keep the Community Small Grants program. Your comments will be shared with City Council members and leadership and included in the public record.

Congratulations to our 2025 Grantees!

Community Small Grants program provides small funds for big ideas that meet community needs. This year, SE Uplift received over 40 applications, requesting more than $100,000. In two rounds, we selected 21 grantees, and thanks to the funding provided by the Office of Community and Civic Life, they were awarded $39,540.

We would also like to thank the Grant Review Committee for their many hours of careful consideration and thoughtful discussion while selecting grantees.

Scroll to view the Community Small Grants Recipients.

Organization	Description
82 Roses Community Enrichment Coalition	The 19th Annual “Roses in the Heart of Portland” Parade in April showcases several hundred diverse community members who plan to march, play music, and entertain. This project will design and distribute over 4,000 postcards to residents who live on either side of 82nd Avenue to promote the parade.
Autism All Grown Up	Autism All Grown Up (AAGU) will pilot two autism-friendly public pop-up events: The UnCommons: professional co-working venue; and Autism Clubhouse: program-free and agenda-free drop-in public venue to meet, socialize, snack, craft, work, parallel play, and share special interests. These spaces will be Autism-friendly because the sensory environments and social expectations will reflect Autistic preferences by design. AAGU will seek a space in District 3.
Black Student Union Advisors of Portland	The Black Student Union Advisors of Portland are launching a project aimed at equipping teenage boys of color with essential life skills. The initiative will involve not only the teens but also their parents or guardians, experts from various job sectors, and Black men from the community to serve as mentors. Inspired by the book 100 Things a Black Boy Should Know, the project seeks to address the lack of services and guidance often available to young boys of color. Through hands-on learning stations, participants will gain practical skills such as cooking, grooming, auto maintenance, etiquette, and even handling encounters with police. The goal is to foster confidence, build community connections, and generate economic opportunities within the Black community.
Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood Outreach	Brentwood Darlington Neighborhood Association (BDNA) seeks to expand household reach within their neighborhood to build community connection, give residents a voice regarding neighborhood issues, inform neighbors about BDNA events and resources, and build and diversify the BDNA board. They will design, print, and distribute postcards.
CampOUT	CampOUT is a youth empowerment organization, based in Laurelhurst, serving LGBTQIA+ youth with joyful, connection creating camps. They seek help to fund their Winter Solstice Event, that welcomes all past campers to return to this community for strength and resilience on the darkest day. This event includes workshops, art activities, drag show, intention setting and a lovely candle lit dinner, where they all sit as one community to toast to lighter days ahead.
Congo Peace Project	Congo Peace Project is producing A Nuit in Congo. It will be an immersive evening for attendees to experience the fashion, music, and food of the Democratic Republic of the Congo while experiencing the rich nature of Portland’s creative scene. This event will bring Congolese-owned fashion brands to Portland with the help of Portland-based creatives, including models, videographers, photographers, hair stylists, makeup artists, and musicians.
Futel	Futel will enhance public space in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood by placing a public installation for community interaction, neighborhood involvement, communication services, and a seating amenity. They will install a free payphone, accessible from the public sidewalk, and enhance a space for public sitting convenient for the bus stop at the site. The phone will provide interactive audio art, free telephone calls, directories of public services, interesting numbers to call, and live operator assistance.
Gym Space Equity	Gym Space Equity’s mission is to reduce barriers and increase accessibility to fitness for BIPOC and other marginalized communities in the Southeast Portland area. This project will work to continue and expand their Community Power Hour program, a core component of Gym Space Equity, by allowing diverse individuals in the community to access fitness resources, education, and scholarship opportunities, as well as supporting their facilitators.
Hope and Bread Mission	Hope and Bread Mission seeks to create a safe space for the unsheltered to do art at Montavilla Park and PDX Saints Love Day Center in the Montavilla neighborhood. Their project will host guest teaching artists, provide supplies and printing, and will lease a monthly storage unit for their art and supplies.
Kerns Neighborhood Association	This project will design, print, and distribute educational postcards to all residents in the Kerns neighborhood to let neighbors know about the Kerns Neighborhood Association (KNA) and how to get involved. The postcards will raise awareness of the KNA, encourage residents to attend meetings, and share ways to get involved in community events and decision-making. By increasing engagement, they aim to strengthen neighborhood connections, foster inclusivity and diversity, and empower residents to participate in local initiatives.
Lavender League	The Lavender League provides a safe, inclusive soccer league for LGBTQ+ adults in Portland. This project aims to expand access to community-driven sports by offering three seasonal leagues, off-field events, and wellness initiatives that foster connection, resilience, and joy. With 700 active participants, an online following of 1,700+, and growing interest, the Lavender League will focus on sustainable growth and safety enhancements, promoting community cohesion and wellness among underrepresented groups in Portland’s LGBTQ+ community.
Montavilla Neighborhood Association	The Montavilla Neighborhood Association (MNA) hopes to foster a broader and more diverse representation of neighbors in their membership by increasing awareness in areas and communities that may not know about their work. To meet that goal, they will implement a recently completed brand refresh on all their promotional channels and send direct mail to targeted addresses in the Montavilla Neighborhood, specifically those outside the Montavilla core most likely to be underrepresented in current membership.
Mt Tabor Middle School PTA	The PTA aims to create a Japanese Zen Meditation Garden at Mt. Tabor Middle School (MTMS), a Japanese dual-language immersion school. MTMS serves grades 6-8, with a prominent BIPOC population. The courtyard is used by students and teachers, after-school clubs, summer camps, and visiting exchange schools from Japan. Their aim is to make the space more functional, enjoyable, and culturally meaningful for all who visit, increasing appreciation for other cultures in our midst.
Portland Area Theatre Alliance	Portland Area Theatre Alliance commits to providing affordable performance space and staffing to independent artists producing work in the 2025 Fertile Ground Festival of New Works. They partnered with two non-profit theaters in SE to utilize their performance venues to reduce barriers to producing, strengthen creative support networks, potentially connecting itinerant artists to an artistic home, and critically, bringing new, diverse audiences into some of the most essential small performance venues in southeast Portland.
Portland Indigenous Marketplace	Portland Indigenous Marketplace seeks to create a welcoming campaign to alert the Central Eastside and beyond that PIM’s headquarters is now located in the Central Eastside. PIM hopes that this campaign will broaden and improve the visibility and communications between PIM and the Central Eastside neighborhood. The services that PIM offers are beneficial to Central Eastside that are Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Events and programming are open to all ages and abilities. PIM plans to directly mail residents and local organizations and businesses in SE Portland.
Roseway Neighborhood Association	The Roseway Neighborhood Association (RNA) is working with PBOT to establish a car-free street plaza at NE Mason and 72nd Ave as a component of the Mason-Skidmore Greenway project. The plaza will be a gathering place for the community and greenway users, fostering connection between our diverse neighbors and furthering the use of the Roseway Parkway green space. The grant would fund a grand opening celebration to raise awareness and celebrate this new community asset.
Rose City Park Neighborhood Association	Rose City Park neighborhood Association (RCPNA) wants to print three RCPNA newsletters and the Rose City Park Review (RCPR) during the 2025 calendar year. RCPNA’s printed newsletter reaches their 4,000 households. Providing funding will allow them to continue to effectively disseminate information concerning community projects, help foster civic engagement and increase RCPNA’s voice in a way that no other form of communication does.
Sunnyside Environmental School PTSA	Sunnyside Environmental School is applying for funding to financially compensate a diverse group of local authors to come to their school, present theirs books, and speak about authorship to their students during Read-A-Thon assemblies. The Author Visits for the SES Read-a-thon has two goals: Bring a diverse groups of local authors to Sunnyside Environmental School to read to and interact with the students there, and to encourage those students to read during the program period.
The Shadow Project	In 2024-25, the Shadow Project will deiver their Goal Setting program to 13 District 3 elementary and middle schools, reaching at least 445 students, mostly in Special Education. Goal Setting uses a disabilities-specific social-emotional curriculum to help students face challenges with a “What is strong?” approach instead of “What is wrong?” Goal Setting helps students with disabilities develop a sense of community and build the skills that make engagement possible: perseverance, self-motivation, self-advocacy, and more.
Tigray Community of Oregon	The Tigray Community of Oregon is launching a project to gather various organizations and community centers in Southeast Portland to share knowledge about building and maintaining community centers. They aim to establish a Tigray community center, and this initiative will equip them with insights and resources needed for that goal. By fostering connections among diverse groups, they will strengthen community relationships, enhance their capacity for social change, and empower residents to engage in public decisions.
We Belong PDX	We Belong PDX will open a new year-round, out-of-school program, serving 24-30 children ages 5-14. They are partnered with Rose City Nazarene for the space on 80th and Everett and will prioritize recommendations from Vestal administration for youth serviced. Their initiative is rooted in four fundamental pillars: trusted relationships, nutrition, adventure, and screen-free creativity. They will serve majority BIPOC families and families facing economic, housing, or food insecurity will be prioritized. Through engaging and holistic programming, these children will be given the tools to enhance wellbeing. This grant will fund food and supplies for the children.