A Look Back

The Most Read Stories About Retail and Small Businesses in 2020

Virus clauses, Black-owned business shopping guides, and unemployment updates. Get caught up on the top 10 stories you cared about this wild year.

12/23/2020 By Eden Dawn

Government

What Will 2021 Have in Store for the Portland City Council?

Watch for police reform, affordable housing and the future of downtown to take center stage.

12/22/2020 By Julia Silverman

Editor's Note

From the Editor: Some Like It Hot

Enjoying winter … while we can.

12/22/2020 By Marty Patail

Year in Review

PoMo’s Top 10 Arts & Culture Stories of 2020

In a year that sent the arts scrambling, our readers clung to joy: a hometown opera success story, a sterling album from a Portland rap giant, the meaty tale of a museum in the Columbia Gorge, and more.

12/17/2020 By Conner Reed

Health

Here Are PoMo’s Top 10 Health & Wellness Stories of the Year

From a woman who lost five years of memories to historic wildfires to, oh yeah, the coronavirus, a lot has happened this year in medical news.

12/09/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

Light a Fire

This Nonprofit Helps Those Experiencing Houselessness Build Skills with Art

“I feel that the more that we can express and share our creativity, the healthier we’re going to be as a planet.”

12/02/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

Light a Fire

The Miller Foundation’s Martha Richards Doesn’t Have All the Answers

And that’s a good thing.

12/02/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Light a Fire

At Portland Audubon, There’s Wildlife Rescue, Nature Education, and Environmental Advocacy for All

At our “Caring for the Planet” award winner, it’s always baby bird season.

12/02/2020 By Julia Silverman

Light a Fire

This 50-Year-Old Housing Org Offers Hope to Portland’s Most Vulnerable Residents

Transition Projects combats homelessness with deeply affordable housing units built for long-term societal change.

12/02/2020 By Morgan Westling

Light a Fire

Basic Rights Oregon Has Advocated for LGBTQ Oregonians for a Quarter Century

Queer and trans Oregonians owe the nonprofit some significant policy victories.

12/02/2020 By Conner Reed

Light a Fire

Growing Gardens Grows More Than Just Plants

How one nonprofit has become a beacon of hope, health, and self-sufficiency.

12/02/2020 By Riley Blake

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Four Decades of Protest: Self Enhancement Inc Keeps Showing Up

The North Portland nonprofit works with schools, families, and partner organizations to provide support for students and their families, in academia and beyond.

12/02/2020 By Fiona McCann

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When COVID-19 Put Oregon’s Families in Deep Need, This Venture Nonprofit Changed Overnight to Help

Within days of COVID-19’s official arrival in Oregon in late winter, the Contingent sensed an urgent need for help among its foster families.

12/02/2020 By Marty Patail

Light a Fire

Margaret-Ann Jones at 71 Is Still Giving her Time and Opening Doors for Portlanders

“This is what feeds me. It lifts my spirits healing others,” she says. “One of my philosophies is the more you give away or the more you do, the more comes back to you.”

12/02/2020 By Ainslee Dicken

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The Black Resilience Fund Brings Immediate Financial Relief to Black Portlanders—and Strives for a More Equitable Future

The fund has grown from a GoFundMe with a goal of $5,000 to a nonprofit that’s raised nearly $1.7 million for Black Portlanders.

12/02/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Light a Fire

Brennan Wood Approaches Grief with Lived Experience, Compassion, and a Dedicated Staff

“This process of grieving the death of somebody is natural and normal and healthy, and it doesn’t have to be something you try to keep separate from who you are.”

12/02/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

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At Camp Ukandu, Jordan Herrle Restores Hope—and Childhood—for Kids Battling Cancer

The youngest member of the camp’s leadership team advocates year-round for kids with cancer.

12/02/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

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This Portland-Based Organization Is Helping Kids Get the Healthy Meals They Need

Since 2017, Our Giving Table has been cooking and delivering nutritious, mom-made meals for food-insecure kids.

12/02/2020 By Karen Brooks

Coronavirus

As COVID Vaccines Seem More Plausible, Oregon Focuses on Its Distribution Plan

The three-phase plan centers health equity. But if and when a vaccine is approved, there will be a “period of discovery.”

11/25/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

Coronavirus

Comparing Lockdown Levels in the West Coast States

11/18/2020 By Julia Silverman