Sixteen community organizations will split $1 million in city grants aimed at reducing gun violence in four Portland neighborhoods with high rates of violent incidents.

The Portland Office of Violence Prevention announced the 2026 Safer Portland Grant recipients on Tuesday, Aug. 25, selecting from a pool of 77 applicants.

A selection committee chose programs focused on youth mentorship, workforce training, arts engagement and culturally specific outreach in priority neighborhoods: Cully, Hazelwood, Eliot and Powellhurst-Gilbert.

Four organizations received the maximum $100,000 award: Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area, It's a Vibe LLC, Royal Rose Foundation and Triple Threat Mentoring.

Latino Network came in just below at $99,999 for its MILPA Portland program, which pairs youth at risk of gun violence with what the organization calls "Credible Messengers" who provide relationship-based mentoring and connect families to stabilizing support.

The grants were split into two tiers: $600,000 in large awards of up to $100,000, and $400,000 in smaller awards of up to $50,000.

The competition was steep. Only 16 of 77 applicants received funding.

Several recipients stand out for creative approaches. Medicine Bear received $79,700 for "Return to Purpose," a culturally rooted program offering art, music, movement and traditional healing for system-involved youth through detention center programming and community sessions. DC Ringz LLC landed $50,000 to run a five-to-six-week glass art program at DC Studio for teens ages 13–19, teaching glass ring production, stained glass and glassblowing.

Music and arts organizations also secured funding. All Ages Music, operating as Friends of Noise, received $49,293 for its Sound Squad Supreme program, which trains youth in live sound engineering and event production through paid work experience.

Portland Street Art Alliance got $50,000 for GraffLab 2027, a week-long summer street art camp for at-risk youth ages 13–17 on the Central Eastside.

Other recipients include Friends of Baseball ($50,000), Next G SAV PDX ($50,000), Nextgen Connect Center ($50,000), Oregon Rohingya Myanmar Muslim Society ($50,000), Project 48 ($50,000), REAP Inc. ($50,000) and The Stream-N Network ($50,000).

It's a Vibe enrolls cohorts of 10–12 participants ages 14–24 in 10-week cycles, running three days per week during after-school hours, evenings and weekends. Boys & Girls Clubs plans to serve up to 500 youth ages 6–18 at four Portland clubhouses with year-round afterschool and summer programming.

The OVP is now led by program manager Jamie Evans-Butler, hired in December 2025 after a national search that drew more than 120 applicants. The office also operates the Safe Blocks program and Portland Ceasefire.

Triple Threat Mentoring's $100,000 will fund an eight-week Summer Sports and Lit Camp for 150 K–5 youth, with 30 high school participants employed as junior coaches.