Community organizations serving North Portland will have a unique opportunity to grow this fall, as the North Portland Enhancement Committee begins to review letters of interest for one-time capacity-building grants of $35,000 to $50,000.
For almost three decades, enhancement grants have been distributed to North Portland groups for neighborhood improvement projects. Funding came from interest off a principal investment raised by a tonnage fee at the now-closed St. Johns Landfill.
Last year, the Metro Council approved the grant committee's recommendation to award the remaining funds to projects that have a large impact in North Portland.
Roughly half the $1.6 million left in the fund has been pledged to the North Portland Greenway Project, with the contingency that the contribution will be matched by federal funding dollars. The remainder of the fund will be distributed through grants that support projects or make investments with long-term impacts in the community.
"The size of these grants is going to allow nonprofits to do things they don't normally get the resources to do," said Sam Chase, Metro councilor and committee chair. "It's a valuable opportunity. North Portland communities will be well served.”
The decision to distribute the remaining funds followed years of plummeting interest rates, which caused grant award amounts to progressively decline.
"It reached the point where more funding was going to financing the oversight of the grants than to the grants themselves," Chase said.
"It seemed like we were really piecemealing what could be accomplished by giving little dibs and dabs here and there," said Cece Hughley Noel, who represents the Portsmouth neighborhood on the enhancement committee.
The new approach is designed to have a substantial, immediate impact in the community by using the released funds for larger-scale projects. The committee plans to award grants of $35,000 to $50,000 to support capacity-building proposals.
Shawn DeCarlo, the St. Johns representative to the committee, said that the changes to the grant program would allow recipients to build capacity in the long term, versus making one-time improvements.
"In the past, grants were smaller, $1,000 for a refrigerator, things like that," DeCarlo said. "Hard operational things. By funding capacity-style projects, we'll be specifically increasing the ability of organizations to raise their own funds."
However, DeCarlo said, not everyone is sold on the idea. By liquidating the principal, the commission is eliminating the source of funding that has supported small community projects for nearly three decades. Some will not be pleased to see that small security pot disappear.
But distributing the remainder of the fund in one go will invest the highest amount possible back into the community with as few dollars as possible going to oversight.
Chase said qualified organizations would have compelling proposals that enable them to provide sustained service to North Portland.
The enhancement committee is soliciting letters of interest from potential applicants, describing how they would use capacity-building support to better serve the needs of North Portland residents. After review, five or more organizations will be selected to receive technical assistance in developing a full funding proposal.
To help organizations with the grant application process, the committee is hosting a free grant-writing workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 18 at the St. Johns Community Center, 8427 N. Central St., Portland. To RSVP, contact Heather Nelson Kent at [email protected].
"The workshop is going to help people draft their letters of interest," said Noel. "We'll be able to answer questions about 'What do you mean by capacity building?' We want to set a dialogue: what are the things these organizations need to be more sustainable, have a greater impact, meet their funding goals?
"We want to provide them with the level of support they need to be successful in the grant-making process."
Noel said that in her four years on the enhancement committee, the majority of funding requests she's seen have been "really worthwhile."
"These organizations have done the job of identifying needs on the peninsula that are unique to the peninsula," she said. "We want to support that."
Letters of interest are due to Metro by 4 p.m., Tuesday, September 3.