Support Small and Local Business Recovery

Here for Portland’s Small and Local Business Recovery Program

The City of Portland is providing support for the economic recovery of neighborhood business districts through a two-pronged approach involving a gift card program to promote intentional shopping and dining and send local consumers through the doors of local businesses, and a paid worker placement program to support businesses in finding the workers they need to keep their doors open.

To promote intentional shopping and dining and support the recovery of Portland’s business districts and neighborhoods, The Here for Portland team will be issuing $50 stimulus credits across the City over the next year which are spendable at local small businesses participating in the Here for Portland initiative. This effort is made possible by the City of Portland with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Credits will be issued through Kuto App, a local app-based payment system that promotes local spending and reduces transaction fees. Click here to go to the Kuto website and download the Kuto App.
Local businesses and restaurants who sign up with the Kuto App can save 50% and more on credit card fees. Click here to find out more.
Local Portlanders receive $50* to shop at local stores and restaurants who accept the Kuto App. (*Limited supply per event)

Want to know how to receive a $50 stimulus credit to shop and dine locally? Look for us at the green Here for Portland tent. Once there, the team from Kuto will distribute the $50 stimulus credit to you (while supplies last).

Where can Here for Portland gift card credits be spent?

Credits disbursed through this program can be spent at participating small and local restaurant and retail businesses in and around designated Portland neighborhoods. They can be used for making purchases as well as for tipping frontline workers.

We are encouraging intentional shopping and dining at small restaurants and retail businesses because they have been hit the hardest since the onset of the pandemic. We’re also prioritizing outreach and inclusion to address the disproportionate impact to BIPOC owned businesses, low-income entrepreneurs, food carts, and businesses impacted by break-ins and vandalism.

If you are a small business owner anywhere in the City of Portland and would like to learn more about participating in the Here for Portland program, please reach out to connect with us. You can send an email to HereforPortland@gmail.com.

 If you discover an amazing business through Here for Portland that you want to boost and share about, please send a photo and tell us about it at smallbizstories@worksystems.org. We’ll enter you in a weekly raffle to receive another $50 Kuto App gift credit for sharing your story.

Here for Portland is funded by the City of Portland’s American Rescue Plan Act program and is a collaboration of the Office of Mayor Ted Wheeler, Portland Action Tables, Prosper Portland, Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Business Alliance, Portland State University, Portland Community College, Bricks Need Mortar, Kuto App, Venture Portland and other local partners specific to each neighborhood and business district that is served.

*Kuto App is a BIPOC-owned, Portland-based payments solution created to keep money within the community by reducing fees and facilitating safe, simple payments. As a community centered payments solution, Kuto partners with communities to address food insecurity, incentivize giving, and promote local spending.