You can receive daily, weekly, or monthly e-mail digests of newsfeed posts. Sign up for digest
About Metro › Metro Council › Councilor Rex Burkholder
With a grant from Metro, the Community Cycling Center studied the cultural and socioeconomic barriers to bicycling in some of Portland’s poorer neighborhoods. Now, the center is using the study’s findings to leverage additional funding and roll through barriers to riding a bike.
Baltimore Woods was in limbo. While the recession kept developers at bay, the area gave rise to weeds, litter and neglect.
But neighbors around the 30-acre corridor in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood saw the land as a community asset. And with the support of a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant, the woods were given a new lease on life.
On the first day of school, James John Elementary's 500 students will get the tools they need to succeed thanks to a $7,500 community enhancement grant from Metro. Through a partnership with Schoolhouse Supplies, every child enrolled at the school will receive a new backpack full of classroom supplies.
Schoolhouse Supplies, a nonprofit dedicated to providing Portland Public Schools with the supplies students need to learn, coordinates the effort. The program is aimed at providing relief for parents, who spend an average of $96 on school supplies per child each year, as well as teachers, who sometimes contribute hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for classroom supplies.
If you were inspired by Metro's recent Nature in Neighborhoods grant recipients, who are transforming an alley into a green parkway, restoring fish habitat and more, why not join them? It's time to fine-tune your own idea to protect and enhance nature. Metro staff needs to know how many viable projects are brewing to anticipate the next full application period. If you have a project ready for consideration, submit your letter of interest as soon as possible.
Programs to deliver youth programs, work readiness training and jobs
With the deepest recession in decades still lingering, Metro Council gave North Portland residents some good news in approving a $15,000 grants package earmarked for neighborhood projects. Funds will support programs that benefit youth with literacy intervention efforts and merit scholarships for college-bound high schoolers, result in weatherization and safety repairs for 60 elderly and disabled residents, and pay the salaries and stipends of more than 20 North Portlanders who, in turn will directly serve their community.
Envision standing underneath a magnificent old oak and looking down into the Willamette River to see salmon and trout making their way into the mouth of Johnson Creek. Now imagine watching an invasive weed new to the Portland metropolitan area clog ponds at the Blue Heron Wetlands and make its way to nearby waterways including Smith and Bybee lakes. Efforts to protect, restore, promote and celebrate nature throughout the Portland metropolitan region received a nearly $1.6 million boost from Metro on Thursday. The Metro Council awarded 17 Nature in Neighborhood grants to a variety of worthwhile projects.
Pre-applications due May 2 - If you live and work in North Portland, you are probably the best source of ideas about important community investments there. That’s why Metro is soliciting grant proposals from local residents, community groups, nonprofit organizations, schools and others who share closely linked goals that help create great communities and support a strong economy as the region – and North Portland neighborhoods - grow. The pre-application deadline for a North Portland community enhancement grant is 5 p.m. Monday, May 2. Pre-applications are available online.
The Metro Council sent a grants package valued at $68,500 to Northwest Portland late last week with monies earmarked for neighborhood improvements. Funds will be used for bricks and mortar capital improvements at nonprofits that serve the area’s low-income residents, as well as for some innovative projects that engage seniors and teens.
"North Portland Meets Africa," a first-time event featuring information about the African continent, its people and cultures, is slated to take place from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 at the St. Johns Community Center, 8427 N. Central in North Portland. Family-friendly programming will give participants ways to increase their understanding of and exposure to their neighbors and friends, or to learn more about their own African heritage. The event is free and open to the public and was funded in part by a Metro Central community enhancement grant.
The liveliest cities and neighborhoods don't happen by accident. We all have the ability to shape our communities through vision and leadership – but it also takes investment. Sometimes a little money is all that stands in the way of turning a good idea into a great project. Metro's Nature in Neighborhoods restoration and enhancement grants connect people to their neighborhoods, natural areas, backyards and beyond. The deadline to submit a pre-application is 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011.
Rex Burkholder represents District 5, which includes Northwest Portland, North Portland, Northeast Portland, downtown Portland, a portion of Southwest Portland and a portion of Southeast Portland.
activities climate change Community Investment Strategy development employment finances & funding grants maps and data maps and data natural areas news coverage parks and trails personal message planning and policy public comment reporting by Nick Christensen solid waste sustainable living transportation urban and rural reserves urban growth boundary visitor venues volunteering 