In 2020, driven by a call-to-action by our board members, the Portland Metro Chamber developed a long-term strategy to study and redress historic economic inequities among Portland’s Black citizens. Our goal: exploring the issues through the lens of private entrepreneurship and affecting positive change by building support, capacity, and resiliency for Black-owned businesses in our region.
Create a dashboard that serves annually and in ten-year intervals, measuring key metrics of Regional Black Economic Prosperity to better understand the current economic state of Black residents in the Portland metro region. This dashboard will be updated annually and set to renew after ten years and will provide a tool for analyzing trends and reporting publicly on the status of Black economic prosperity.
Develop a Regional Strategic Plan for Black Economic Prosperity using key dashboard metrics for defining solutions and outcomes in improving economic prosperity factors for Black residents in Portland.
Support a fund endowment for establishing a new role and potential organization focused on developing the dashboard, strategic plan, and related work. (Note: in 2021, the Chamber accomplished this piece by seed-funding the creation of the Black Business Association – Oregon. In February 2022, BBA-Oregon hired its first Executive Director and began operations.)
April 2024
February 2024
February 2024