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Gilbert Leon graduated from Portland Youth Builders 10 years ago and recently became a board member so he can share his experiences of being a Latino owner of a full-service drywall company.

鈥淚 told them I鈥檇 love to be on the board because not only am I in the construction industry but I鈥檓 a graduate and I can relate to the students. Portland Youth Builders worked for me and I鈥檓 sure it will work for a lot of other people, too,鈥� he said.

Leon learned about drywall while working with his father and uncles when he was growing up. He started Bridgeport Interiors in 2014 and has worked on projects such as the Orchards of 82nd affordable housing near the Jade District and Oliver Station in the Lents neighborhood.

Bridgeport Interiors worked on Orchards of 82nd with O鈥橬eill/Walsh Community Builders, and co-owner Ali O鈥橬eill praised the company for delivering on schedule, demonstrating 鈥渆xceptional鈥� planning and layout skills, and completing the project with a minimal punch list.

She noted that during a recent, complicated project that involved several design changes, Leon and his staff went above and beyond in providing 鈥渃ritical鈥� preliminary estimating assistance that helped OWCB develop accurate pricing.

鈥淏ridgeport Interiors is an outstanding representative of the COBID community because of their excellent performance. All of their staff is exceptionally easy to work with and they are very diligent in meeting schedules. They are very focused on providing service of the highest quality,鈥� O鈥橬eill said. 鈥淲e look forward to partnering with them again in the future.鈥�

Bridgeport Interiors also worked on Lents Commons, a mixed-use, mixed-income development with 54 apartments and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail that was completed in February 2018. Leon said the project, a collaboration between Prosper Portland and the Portland Housing Bureau, marked a turning point for his company.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when we dove into working with the city and getting more into public work and that opened the door to doing larger projects,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had been working hard to build a good company resume before that, and we finally earned the trust of large contractors and got opportunities to work on larger projects.鈥�