Job Opportunities in Portland Oregon’s Small Businesses Get Support
ningcontentAs about 94 percent of the city’s businesses have fewer than 50 employees, there are several small business job opportunities in Portland Oregon.
The Portland Development Commission recently created a new Neighborhood Division, staffed by more than 35 professionals, which will be responsible for assisting those who work in small businesses.
“One of my priorities when I entered office was to create a division within PDC to focus on small business and community economic development,” Mayor Sam Adams said.
Small businesses in the Portland area can now look to the Neighborhood Division to obtain resources to apply for loans and grants, seek technical assistance and access the broader economy. In addition, the PDC provides millions of dollars each year to small businesses in the form of storefront improvement grants and working capital.
Adams and the PDC also have created a new business hotline, which is scheduled to go live in early December. The hotline will connect businesses with city bureaus and the PDC for questions regarding storefront improvement grants, business finance loans, permit, tax and license matters.
In the future, the hotline will complement a Portland business Web site that workers can use to process permit, tax and license matters; view a calendar of citywide events and find information on organizations that provide business assistance services. A beta version of the Web site is expected to be available in January 2010.
As of late, the PDC has been working on Urban Renewal, a state-authorized, redevelopment and finance program designed to help communities improve and redevelop areas that are physically deteriorated, suffering economic stagnation, unsafe or poorly planned.
PDC uses Urban Renewal as a tool to focus public attention and resources in blighted or underused areas to stimulate private investment and improve neighborhood livability.
Some of the outcomes of Urban Renewal projects include: Pioneer Courthouse Square, Eastbank Esplanade, Portland State University’s Urban Plaza, Oregon Convention Center, Willamette Industrial District, Waterfront Park, Union Station, Pioneer Place, Walnut Park, South Waterfront District.
