EPA Pollution Prevention Grant to Assist Native American Businesses with Sustainable Procurement

This project is a collaboration between Portland State University’s (PSU’s) Institute for Sustainable Solutions (ISS), Community Environmental Services (CES), and Institute for Tribal Government (ITG) with the Northwest Native Chamber (NWNC) and Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC). Our purpose is to practice environmental justice through an equity lens centered in intersectional communities.

We acknowledge that across all industries there are practices that contribute to pollution through production and consumption of materials and services. This program is open to organizations of all sizes, but we want to point out that small and medium-sized organizations are also welcome, despite the fact that these organizations tend to produce less pollution than their larger counterparts. We also recognize that all minority-owned and minority-serving organizations generally face additional challenges with implementing sustainable procurement practices as they typically receive fewer services and less support.

We aim to assist up to 100 organizations and other organizations in the state of Oregon. Our goal is to provide additional “tools in the toolbox” via curriculum, workshops, networking, and additional resources to interested Native and Tribally-owned and/or serving organizations who are starting or currently progressing in their journey of developing, refining, and implementing sustainable procurement practices.