October 6, 2021
Minority & Small Business Week
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Page 13
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
The MLK Dream Run honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of social and economic justice for all. The 10th annual weekend celebration returns
Saturday, Oct. 16 at Northeast MLK Boulevard and Alberta Street with a Roots Marketplace and Vendor Village, and entertainment. Race day is Sunday,
Oct 17 from the same location.
It’s a milestone year for the Soul Dis-
trict Business Associations’ MLK Dream
Run fundraising weekend celebration, re-
turning Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 16 -17
to the Alberta Commons shopping district
at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Bou-
levard and Alberta Street.
The 10th annual event celebrates a de-
cade of honoring Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.’s vision of social and economic justice
for all, as he outlined through his time-
less, “I Have A Dream’’ speech.
This year’s celebration will kick off
on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 10 a.m. featur-
ing a Roots Marketplace, Vendor Village
and entertainment through 6 p.m. Race
day will be Sunday Oct, 27 from 7 a.m.
to noon from the same MLK and Alberta
location.
Donations raised for these events pro-
vide mentorship, coaching and work-
force development training for small
business owners and youth entrepreneurs
Decade Strong
in the Soul
MLK Dream Run to celebrate 10 years
in Portland’s historic African American
community.
Funds raised over the years have been
used to benefit the Soul District Youth
Entrepreneur Training Programs, for
example, which are designed to help
low-income and minority youth (ages
16-24) improve and expand skills they
need to operate successful businesses.
These youth are able to leverage these
skills to secure opportunities for better
employment and pathways to higher ed-
ucation.
For Kyrell Bishop, a SDBA youth en-
trepreneur program graduate and owner
of GKB Services, LLC, a company that
provides transport, moving and profes-
sional cleaning services, the impact of
the training he received from 2015-2018
was instrumental in putting him on a path
to successful small business ownership.
“Summer internship programs through
The Soul District Business Association
gave me true insights into the daily op-
erations and requirements of running a
business. I learned and gained skills and
connections that gave me universal qual-
ities and capacities,” he recently shared
with Soul District officials.
Bishop said he saw how things worked
in real-world, real-time.
“This experience inspired me to launch
my own business that supports myself and
my family,” he said.
Everyone is invited to join the MLK
Dream Run celebration and be a part of
the Soul District’s ongoing work to uplift
Black and minority communities. You can
sign up to walk, run, vendor, volunteer or
donate, as individuals or groups by visit-
ing mlkdreamrun.com/.