PORTLAND, Ore. — Multnomah County is offering small grants for businesses east of Interstate 205 that have been impacted by vandalism.
Each business can apply for a $5,000 grant as part of the $100,000 program, Multnomah County Re-Beautification Grant, led by County Chair and District 3 Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson.
“I’m committed to doing what we can to help these small East County businesses that are so critical to our community’s recovery and economic health,” said Vega Pederson in a news release Monday.
Businesses can use the funds to repair broken windows and remove graffiti that occurred after July 1, 2022. The county is partnering with Micro Enterprise services of Oregon (MESO) to assist in distributing funds to small businesses.
Ash Yasin owns Jordan Motor Sports on Northeast 122nd Avenue. About three weeks ago someone broke several windows inside his store. It is costing him more than $30,000 to repair the damages and it's not the first time it's happened.
"I just had to build a complete fence that's eight feet high and probably past city regulations because this is what I have to do to protect my place because I'm just having break-ins everyday," Yasin said.
Yasin said he's planning on applying for the grant but there's so much damage to pay for inside his business.
"In a way I want to say 'great, $5,000 seems good," Yasin said. "In another way it's like a slap in the face, the added taxes in the last year is costing me way more than $5,000, I'm not getting anything back, just damages."
Over on Southeast Stark Street, Fatima Magomadova owns Kinetic Healthcare and Wellness Center. She recently had tons of graffiti sprayed all over her outside walls and several broken windows back in February. Magomadova said she wants to get everything cleaned up, but it will be costly. She had to put up a large fence just to keep the vandals out.
"How much is $5,000 covering?" Magomadova said. "To replace the window at my front door, it cost me $1,500, to get a fence, it cost $40,000, to have a temporary fence, I had to pay $500 on a monthly basis for over a year."
If businesses want to apply for the grant, they can do so by clicking here. Only one application will be accepted for any one business or business owner, according to the county.