This week Bank of America named Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center + Rosemary Anderson High School and Bridge Meadows as their 2021 Neighborhood Builder Grantees!
Each year in the Portland Metro market, Bank of America selects two local nonprofit organizations to receive Neighborhood Builders awards. The winning nonprofits each receive a $200,000 cash gift plus leadership training. This Builders award is a major investment for B of A, and for the past 18 years, it’s been the cornerstone of their local philanthropy efforts.
POIC + RAHS and Bridge Meadows were chosen through a very competitive process and each rose to the top for their creative and innovative work addressing workforce development and housing security needs in our community.
The timing of this $400,000 investment is especially strategic since both these organizations will use their grants to advance economic mobility and stability for individuals and families in our community. POIC + RAHS will use their grant to launch their newest project, “The Kitchen.” It will become a culinary education training ground for the community, particularly communities of color, and will provide nutritious lunches to students at Rosemary Anderson High School, which currently purchases lunches from another school district. POIC + RAHS has served Portland for more than 50 years, assisting more than 3,000 historically underserved students, work trainees and families annually through alternative education, workforce development and family outreach.
For 10 years, Bridge Meadows has brought generations together to improve health and well-being through meaning, purpose, and belonging. Built around the concept of interdependence, Bridge Meadows’ affordable housing communities support 300 children who have experienced the foster care system, their adoptive families, and elders, who serve as mentors. With the Neighborhood Builders grant, the organization plans to double capacity over the next two years as this will allow them to expand, hire staff, and can even help grow their current affordable housing communities.
“We are looking forward to enhanced partnership between our organizations, where we’ll work together to support the advancement of racial equality and economic mobility through these programs. I hope you will join me in offering congratulations to these two very deserving nonprofits,” said Roger W. Hinshaw
President, Oregon and SW Washington Bank of America in a statement.
