The Portland University students will offer business support and free marketing to downtown businesses that are struggling to recover from the pandemic. The Rose City Downtown Collective, a coalition of nearly 300 business leaders, is working with Portland State’s Business School on this program.

The Collective expects students to work with up to 12 businesses this fall. The interested businesses can apply online, and the applications will be considered on the ‘first-come first-serve’ policy. Evie Smith, a spokesperson for the collective said, “the business school has provided similar support to businesses in the past, but the new initiative will focus specifically on downtown.”