Grow 2023 Finalists

Beaverton Community Band engages audiences with diverse artistic performances, enlightens the community through music education, and enriches the lives of its members. The all-volunteer group focuses on diversity and inclusion, as members rediscover past musical skills and learn new ones.

The Band plans to offer a series of park concerts to connect, invigorate, and reinforce underserved communities' relationship with the City of Beaverton and the Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation Department. The grant will allow us to purchase a set of portable acoustical shells to be used every summer, and to procure the music for the various concerts.

The Clackamas River Basin Council fosters partnerships for clean water and improves fish and wildlife habitat and the quality of life for those who live, work, and recreate in the watershed. Activities include river restoration for fish and wildlife habitat, riparian planting for water quality, and nature education for local youth and adults.  

The Grow grant will help us partner with Rivers of Life Center to build 10 new Stash the Trash bag stands along the Clackamas River to prevent and reduce litter in and around the river. The grant will also fund three riverside cleanup events and ongoing river stewardship outreach.

Financial Beginnings Oregon empowers youth, young adults, and adults to take control of their financial futures. We provide educational programs that incorporate all aspects of personal finance to give individuals the foundation they need to make informed financial decisions.

The Financial Empowerment Fellowship is a financially-focused workforce development program for young adults from low-income and underserved backgrounds. Fellows help build relationships with community partners, teach financial education, and improve our programs. The Grow grant would fully fund two fellowship positions.

Girls Build inspires curiosity and confidence in girls through the world of building. We do this with camps and out-of-school classes where 8 - 15-year-olds learn the basics of the building trades, such as carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheet metal and more. Girls Build prioritizes serving low-income girls, youth involved in foster care, and girls of color. 

This grant will help launch the Girls Build foster care class series to serve girls involved in the foster care system. Participants will learn carpentry, sheet metal, and electrical skills through hands-on out-of-school classes taught by expert tradeswomen. Grant funds will allow us to offer two six-week courses in the trades for up to 24 participants.

The mission of Guide Dogs for the Blind is to harness the power of partnerships — connecting people, dogs, and communities — to transform the lives of individuals with visual impairments. GDB is a national, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that breeds, trains, and matches exceptional dogs with qualified blind and visually impaired individuals to create effective mobility teams.

Grow grant funds would be used to design, build, and maintain a Canine Sensory and Enrichment Experience, a space dedicated to meeting dogs’ physical and emotional needs through species-appropriate enrichment. Scientifically proven benefits for the dogs include reduced stress, greater confidence, increased mental and physical fitness, and overall improved emotional welfare.

Northwest Pilot Project offers opportunities for a life of dignity and hope to extremely low-income Multnomah County seniors (age 55 and older) who are homeless or at risk of losing their housing. NWPP has developed and honed a solid understanding of what low- and very low-income older adults need to access housing, and to stay in housing they can afford.

NWPP supports clients with basic in-home care services they need to maintain their housing stability and ability to age in place. The Grow grant would provide additional housing retention services to 100 of our most vulnerable clients aged 55 and over and with incomes of less than $25,000 annually.

At Oregon Friends of Shelter Animals, our mission is to rescue as many 'last chance' dogs and cats as possible, restore them to health, and use adoption to place them in loving, forever homes. We serve the Portland metro area. 

Treating a pet's serious illness or injury can be financially devastating. The Grow grant will enable OFOSA to launch  Pets for Life, a fund to help community members pay for treatment so that, rather than surrendering them for euthanasia or rehoming, people can keep their pets at home.

Outside In supports youth experiencing homelessness, and other marginalized people as they move toward improved health and self-sufficiency. We’ve created an all-inclusive and integrated system of wraparound services that has transformed and saved thousands of lives over the years.

We would use the Grow grant to purchase two new, high-efficiency, commercial washer/dryer units for the Day Program. Our current washer and dryer are unable to keep up with demand. The new machines would more than double the amount of laundry clients can wash each week.

Portland Rescue Mission provides hot meals and emergency shelter as well as hope, practical support, and addiction recovery for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness and addiction in the Portland area. Our mission is to offer a path to life transformation to everyone who walks through the doors of our three service locations.

We offer 50 emergency shelter mats nightly, for no cost to anyone struggling with homelessness. With nightly use and daily cleaning, the mats are wearing thin and breaking at the seams. This grant will be used to purchase new, durable mats providing approximately 36,500 nights of emergency shelter over the next two years. 

The mission of Transition Projects is to help people transition from homelessness to housing. We respond to the needs of our unhoused neighbors through direct street and camp outreach, seven shelter facilities, and permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.

With support from the Grow grant, we'll furnish 22 apartments for people transitioning from homelessness to permanent housing, opening shelter beds to others. Transition Projects provides each household with a move-in kit containing basic items such as silverware, cookware, shower curtains, bedding, and towels.

United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon & Southwest Washington advances the independence, productivity, and full citizenship of people with cerebral palsy and other related disabilities. UCP Oregon's Family Support honors our roots by offering unique services to families of children who experience cerebral palsy and related disabilities.  

This Grow grant would provide much-needed funds for the UCP “Respitality” program, which gives parents of disabled children a night off from caregiving. The service offers parents a chance to enjoy a night away in a local hotel for a little self-care, rest, and renewal.

Word is Bond empowers young Black men, ages 15-20, from a variety of alternative, private, and public schools across the greater Portland area. We help them develop the tools to discover their personal stories, and provide a platform to share them with the broader community. 

Level Up is our school-year leadership program providing monthly opportunities for high school-aged Black men. The program includes college prep, career exploration, self-development workshops, and the popular In My Shoes walking tour project. The Grow grant funds will help support 20 youth leaders participating from September through May.