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July 20, 2022
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Diversity grants by Prosper Portland offer funding for local employers to inspire creative, equity-related best practices around workforce, marketing and communications.
Grants Promote Business Diversity
Eleven local businesses will receive
grants from Prosper Portland to promote
diversity, equity and inclusion, the city’s
economic development agency recently
announced. Ten of the recipient businesses
are either BIPOC- or women-owned.
Prosper Portland’s Inspiring Diversi-
ty Grant, now in its fourth year, is in-
tended to encourage private employers
to incorporate creative, equity-related
best practices around workforce, mar-
keting and communications.
Prosper Portland’s business and indus-
try strategy is focused on helping leading
companies in targeted industries become
more inclusive, recognizing that the funda-
mental equity challenge for these compa-
nies is improving access to good jobs.
Prosper Portland executive director
Kimberly Branam said, “Our efforts to
support local businesses, both large and
small, focus on the importance of inclu-
sion and a strong racial equity lens. The
Inspiring Diversity grants build a learning
community that helps the recipients and
their peer companies become more com-
petitive by incorporating diversity and in-
clusion best practices.”
The agency received more than 60 ap-
plications for the grant, which priori-
tizes companies that sell many of their
products and services to people and
businesses outside the Portland region,
nationally and globally.
The average grant size was $8,400. In
addition, De La Salle High School will
partner with local businesses to provide
internship opportunities for underrepre-
sented youth.
David Fee of Castelli/Sportful, a past
recipient of the grant, said, “The IDG pro-
gram made it possible for us to increase
the diversity within our team and have a
greater impact on our community. With-
out the funds and support of the program,
we could not have achieved the goals that
our Diversity, Inclusion & Community
Committee set for this year.”