Ten local nonprofits selected to receive grants
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Timbers today announced the awarding of $50,000 in grants to eight educational, environmental, and community-focused nonprofit organizations in the greater-Portland area through the Portland Timbers Community Fund (PTCF). The recipients were selected by the Portland Timbers Community Fund Advisory Board, consisting of partners adidas, Alaska Airlines, and Providence Health & Services.
Since the club’s inaugural MLS season in 2011, the Timbers have given more than $6.8 million in cash and in-kind donations, including their philanthropic work through the PTCF, the club’s field-grants program and various charitable activities.
The Portland Timbers Community Fund presented grants to Active Children Portland, Children's Book Bank, Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors, Elevate Oregon, Elite Sports Academy, Friends of the Children- Portland, Impact NW, Portland Youth Builders, Street Soccer USA, and Tualatin Riverkeepers.
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The grant awarded to Active Children Portland, whose mission is to empower students to lead healthy lives, succeed academically, and inspire positive community engagement, will utilize its grant to increase sports opportunities and retention for girls. Funds would be used to directly increase access, support physical and emotional wellness, and create environments of inclusion and acceptance for girls in ACP programming. For more information, visit www.acportland.org.
The Children’s Book Bank, an organization that focuses on increasing the opportunity for underserved children to succeed as future readers, learners, and citizens by filling their lives and homes with quality books, will utilize its grant to provide books to children in need. CBB aims to provide 20,000 books featuring diverse racial, ethnic and cultural representation, physical/mental abilities, family structures, LGBTQ+ identities and more in 2021. For more information, visit www.childrensbookbank.org.
The grant awarded to Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors, an organization dedicated to inspiring K-12 students to connect to the natural world by providing hands-on ecology enrichment programs, will apply its grant to grow their Digital Climate Action Education Program. This grant will help fund curriculum for 2,500-10,000 middle and high school students focused on climate solutions and action to increase student’s knowledge and skills while giving them positive actions to take to mitigate climate change. For more information, visit www.ecologyoutdoors.org.
Elevate Oregon, which builds relationships with at-risk youth to promote education, self-reliance, and achievement, will utilize its grant to support their outside-school programs which aim to advance social equity in the Parkrose School District. These programs will assist students through the transition from elementary and middle school. To learn more information, visit www.elevateoregon.org.
The grant awarded to Elite Sports Academy, which has a mission to promote health and wellness throughout minority and under-resourced communities by providing free sports-based programs, will be used toward helping provide summer-long sports camps to more than 550 youth. For more information, visit www.elitesportsacademy.org
Friends of the Children-Portland, whose mission is to impact generational change by empowering youth through relationships with professional mentors, will put the grant toward STEM activity kits and growing their library of culturally specific books. Additionally, the grant will help enroll youth into coding camps. For more information, visit www.friendspdx.org.
The funding given to Impact NW, whose mission is to prevent homelessness by partnering with people as they navigate their journey to stability and opportunity, will support the All Kids are Scientists program. The funds will provide 450 K-6 students with individual STEM kits to be used while in distance learning. For more information, visit www.impactnw.org.
Portland Youth Builders, which aims to support low-income young people between 17 and 24 become self-sufficient, contributing members of the workforce and their community, will utilize the grant to enroll 100 youth in a nine-week construction program leading to living wage careers in the construction industry. The grant will provide tools, training, and equipment for the students as they partner with Habitat for Humanity to build homes. For more information, visit www.pybpdx.org.
The grant awarded to Street Soccer USA, whose mission is to fight poverty and empower underserved communities through soccer, will be used to support youth in the Child Welfare System and unaccompanied minors through soccer programming that helps them discover their strengths and connect them to social services. This grant will support training and stipends for coaches, mentors, and social service coordinators. For more information, visit www.streetsoccerusa.org.
Tualatin Riverkeepers, a community-based organization that protects and restores the Tualatin River watershed, will utilize the funding to support the River Adventures Summer Camps educational activities and in-person paddle trip. Funds will support building, distributing, and coordinating at-home environmental learning activities that range from simple neighborhood scavenger hunts to creating their own model watersheds. For more information, visit www.tualatinriverkeepers.org.
Through the Timbers’ community outreach platform, Stand Together, the team is committed to furthering its community mission to harness the power of sport to improve the lives of children and families in the region through targeted programs, deep partnerships and philanthropic giving. For more on the Timbers community outreach programs and partners, visit www.timbers.com/stand-together.
