By: Chuck Slothower//May 10, 2017//
Chuck Slothower//May 10, 2017//
The Portland Development Commission is rebranding itself as Prosper Portland.
The move to change the agency’s public face, along with the tagline, “Building an equitable economy,” comes as it embraces racial-justice and equity goals.
“We’re rebranding to really embrace what we do,” Shawn Uhlman, the agency’s spokesman, said in an interview.
The PDC is seeking to expand opportunities for women- and minority-owned contractors and atone for mistakes made in gentrifying Portland’s historical neighborhoods of color.
“There’s a recognition that there’s a challenging history, and a recognition that that history should be a foundation for doing better, and doing better at doing good,” Commissioner Alisha Moreland-Capuia said.
The Portland Development Commission’s name comes with “baggage,” Uhlman told PDC commissioners on Wednesday.
A redesigned website is part of the rebranding. New materials that reflect the Prosper Portland branding will cost about $10,000.
The agency was created in 1958 as the Development and Civic Promotion Department. The city agency will still officially be chartered as the Portland Development Commission, and remain in the development business in East Portland neighborhoods and areas such as the Broadway corridor – the 14-acre U.S. Postal Service property that is targeted for redevelopment.
The Prosper Portland rebranding is part of a five-year strategic plan adopted in 2015.
Commissioner Gustavo Cruz Jr. said he’s “excited about the change.”
“It’s a much warmer and less bureaucratic-sounding name,” he said.
Commissioner Mark Edlen said the PDC is moving in the right direction under Executive Director Kimberly Branam.
“We really feel a shift in focusing on social equity and prosperity across the board,” Edlen said.
The PDC’s board on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a resolution to adopt the new communications strategy.