October 4, 2017
Page 9
Minority & Small Business Week
The Law Offices of
Patrick John Sweeney, P.C.
Patrick John Sweeney
Attorney at Law
1549 SE Ladd
Portland, Oregon
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Crews build Alberta Commons on the corner of Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alberta
Street. About 20,000 square feet of the new retail space will be reserved to support minority and
women entrepreneurs.
Portland:
Hillsoboro:
Facsimile:
Email:
(503) 244-2080
(503) 244-2081
(503) 244-2084
Sweeney@PDXLawyer.com
Affordable Leasing at
Alberta Commons
Minority and
women-owned
businesses get
priority
D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
Prosper Portland, the city of
Portland’s newly named eco-
nomic and urban development
agency, has developed an Af-
fordable Commercial Tenanting
Program to support minority and
women entrepreneurs at the site
of the new grocery store and re-
by
tail complex coming to the cen-
ter of Portland’s historic black
community.
Approximately 20,000 square
feet of leasable space at Alberta
Commons at Martin Luther King
Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street
will be available at a discount-
ed lease rate. The Affordable
Commercial Tenanting Program
is also available at two Prosper
Portland sites at Lents Town
Center in southeast Portland.
Project coordinator Alison
Wicks told the Portland Observ-
er that the program is aimed at
assisting underserved business-
es—owned by people of color
Sport into a Business
C ontinueD froM p age 5
in Las Vegas to pursue a career in
professional boxing.
Forbes earned his profession-
al boxing credentials by training
with the likes of boxing icon Floyd
Mayweather Sr., and sparring
against other great featherweight
fighters such as Carlos Hernandez.
In 2000, Forbes won the OBF
Super
Featherweight
World
Championship. Six years later, he
fought on ESPN’s reality boxing
show, “The Contender.”
Forbes says that it was his
grandmother who inspired him
to return to Oregon to open up a
boxing training studio after he
achieved professional success.
“My grandma, before she
passed, always wanted me to come
here and have a boxing program,”
Forbes said. “It was destiny for me
to come back here and open up a
program.”
He is currently in the process
of procuring a studio space for 2
Pounds Sports, which will offer
training sessions and sports pro-
motion for prospective boxers in
the Portland area.
“It brings people together, and
it’s a fun workout,” said Forbes.
“Some people want to do it for self
defense; some may want to do it
just for fitness.”
Forbes is also getting involved
with the city’s mixed martial arts
(MMA) community, which he
says is more established than its
boxing scene. He is offering spe-
cialized training sessions for pro-
spective MMA fighters through 2
Pounds Sports.
2 Pounds Sports will also of-
fer Forbes’ unique professional
perspective to groups who are
interested in receiving collective
education.
“Group training gets people to-
gether so they can work together
and learn together,” Forbes said.
To learn more or contact
Forbes, visit 2poundsports.com or
call 702-776-9614.
or women—to stay afloat in the
face of recent increases in retail
rents and a shortage of com-
mercial leasing opportunities is
across the city. Tenants will also
benefit from the program by re-
ceiving a year of technical as-
sistance for their business from
Prosper Portland.
Construction of Alberta Com-
mons is set to be completed this
November by Colas construc-
C ontinueD on p age 26
Minority Business