PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s (BPS) Community Technology Division is proud to announce the two finalists of the Digital Skills Building for Native Communities Grant, a funding initiative that supports community-based digital training programs that center cultural identity, healing, and opportunity. The Foundations Grant is $130,000, while the Futures Grant is $150,000.
The two successful applications are community projects that have been selected for their innovative, community-rooted approaches to expanding digital access and education for Native youth, adults, and elders across Portland. Funded through BPS’s Community Technology Division, these projects will help bridge digital divides while preserving Indigenous knowledge systems and supporting career development.
Foundations Grant Awardee
Future Generations Collaborative
Future Generations Collaborative will use grant funding to create a dedicated computer lab that offers free access to high-speed internet, basic digital skills training, and a culturally informed digital database. This space will also serve as a vital resource in support of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) cases. Community members will be able to share stories, cross-reference cases, and learn how to utilize digital tools and social media to strengthen searches for missing persons and raise awareness on the crisis, bring community together, and elevate the voices of impacted families.
Futures Grant Awardee
Indigenous Now (Fiscal Sponsor) in collaboration with Day One Tech
Their project, Rooted in Tech, reimagines digital education through a Native lens. The initiative will deliver immersive, intergenerational digital learning experiences framed around storytelling, tradition, and self-determination. Day One Tech looks to build a new partnership with the Native American Youth and Family Center’s (NAYA) College & Career Readiness Department to help Native teens and young adults access culturally relevant pathways into tech careers.
“The Native Communities Grant reflects the City’s commitment to expand digital equity throughout all communities in Portland,” said BPS’s Digital Equity Program Coordinator Alonso Melendez.
About the Program
The Digital Skills Building for Native Communities Grant is part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s larger effort to close the digital divide through culturally responsive, community-led solutions with an equity, economic mobility, and sustainability lens. This grant supports Indigenous organizations in delivering digital access and skills training grounded in tradition, healing, and self-determination. Projects funded through this program are expected to be implemented between June 2025 and June 2027.
About the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) oversees a world-renowned waste and recycling system and leads the country in its commitment to digital equity, open data, and protecting communities in the application of technologies. Staff collaborate with partners on neighborhood, economic, historic, and environmental planning and provide research, policy, and technical services to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as policies and actions to address climate change. The bureau also oversees the innovative Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF). BPS is one of several bureaus and programs in the Community and Economic Development service area. This service area creates and delivers efficient, transparent, and equitable solutions for a resilient built environment – as well as services, resources, and experiences for our community. This work is accomplished by aligning City programs focused on building prosperity for all Portlanders.