Brilliance Labs is proud to announce the recipients of our ninth round of micro-grant awards. For Spring 2026, we decided to do something a little different. Over five years of ministry and nonprofit work in the greater Portland area, we've come to believe that many of the problems the various ministries and organizations in our city are working to solve would be far less significant if men stepped fully into their God-given calling to love, lead, and care for their families and communities. So this round was dedicated entirely to organizations, churches, and ministries specifically focused on serving, equipping, and building up men and/or families — an upstream investment in the conviction that Portland grows stronger when families are stronger and men look and act more like Jesus. These micro-grants carry the legacy of Central Bible Church by funding churches and organizations that are making a difference in our city, especially among those under-resourced or otherwise neglected by majority culture churches and ministries.
African Family Holistic Health Organization
African Family Holistic Health Organization (AFHHO) strengthens African diaspora families — Congolese, Somali, Sudanese, Eritrean, and Ethiopian — through culturally rooted health, healing, and community-building grounded in the Ubuntu philosophy: "I am because we are." Portland's African immigrant and refugee men face elevated rates of untreated depression, hypertension, and diabetes, with social isolation as the single most dangerous risk factor, yet the culturally specific, community-led mental health infrastructure that might reach them essentially does not exist in Portland. As AFHHO puts it, they are not treating broken men; they are forming whole ones, and in doing so building a safer, more connected community for everyone.
Brilliance Labs awarded AFHHO a $5,000 grant to support the launch of the Ubuntu Men's Initiative, a 12-month pilot beginning September 2026 that serves African immigrant and refugee men in East Portland and Beaverton through group sessions, a fatherhood program, and facilitator training.
BMIT (Black Men in Training)
Black Men in Training (BMIT) mentors, equips, and mobilizes young men in Portland — particularly those from communities disproportionately impacted by violence, poverty, and systemic barriers — to choose purpose over destruction and leadership over survival. Through their Options Over Ops (OOO) program, BMIT addresses the normalization of violence, limited economic pathways, and absence of positive male mentorship in East Portland, working to cultivate a generation of young men who become mentors, entrepreneurs, fathers, and community builders.
Brilliance Labs awarded BMIT a $3,000 grant to help sustain the physical community hub in East Portland where the Options Over Ops mentorship program operates — the consistent, trusted, safe environment where 40–60 young men gather each year for mentorship circles, conflict-resolution dialogue, workforce-readiness workshops, and youth-led service.
Dads Helping Dads
Dads Helping Dads is a Portland-based nonprofit that supports fathers in becoming present, responsible, and engaged parents by helping them overcome barriers such as criminal records, unstable employment, lack of mentorship, and strained family relationships. They host workshops on Oregon record-clearing options that remove obstacles to employment, housing, and parental involvement, alongside community events that strengthen family relationships. Their conviction is simple: when fathers are supported, children benefit, families become stronger, and communities become safer.
Brilliance Labs awarded Dads Helping Dads a $4,500 grant to fund the Kingdom Impact Fatherhood Fellowship — a series of recurring fellowship gatherings centered around shared meals and meaningful connection for fathers in underserved Portland communities, building brotherhood and strengthening father-child relationships.
NEXTG SAV PDX
NextG SAV PDX exists to mentor and empower the next generation of young men in Portland to become leaders, entrepreneurs, and positive contributors to their families and neighborhoods. Many of the young men they serve face exposure to violence, gang recruitment, limited economic opportunity, and an absence of positive male role models. NextG addresses this by connecting youth with mentors, entrepreneurs, and community leaders through mentorship, sports engagement, entrepreneurship training, and employment pathways.
Brilliance Labs awarded NextG SAV PDX a $5,000 grant to launch the NextG Brotherhood Sports & Mentorship Initiative for 20–25 young men, using sports, shared meals, and mentorship to build leadership, discipline, and strong peer relationships.
Paid in Full Oregon
Paid in Full Oregon (PiFO) exists to change the culture of the Oregon prison system by transforming adults in custody into spiritual mentors and moral leaders. Despite roughly $50,000 in state spending per inmate each year, about 55% of those released in Oregon are rearrested within three years — outcomes driven largely by unemployment, housing instability, mental health challenges, and technical violations rather than new criminal behavior. PiFO's conviction is that most existing approaches address behavior, skills, and compliance while leaving untouched the deeper issues of identity, purpose, and moral formation — what they call "spiritual deprivation."
Working inside Oregon's correctional system, PiFO develops adults in custody as spiritual mentors through Christ-centered discipleship, accredited biblical and theological education (in partnership with Corban University), and structured peer-led formation. Brilliance Labs awarded Paid in Full Oregon a $9,000 grant to help fund the salary of their Spiritual Mentor Director, who provides consistent statewide oversight, coaching, and partner liaison work across the three correctional facilities PiFO currently serves.
Pure Life Alliance
Pure Life Alliance restores wholeness to individuals and couples impacted by unwanted sexual behaviors and betrayal trauma, operating 25+ support groups across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and beyond through two programs: Set Free for men and Healing Haven for women. They approach sexual brokenness and betrayal trauma not as behavioral problems to manage but as spiritual and relational wounds that require truth, grace, community, and the presence of God to heal. For Pure Life, the deeper issue is the absence of leading men — when men step into their God-given calling, marriages are restored, fathers reengage with their children, and men once stuck in shame become trustworthy church leaders.
Brilliance Labs awarded Pure Life Alliance a $5,000 grant to launch Freed to Lead, a leadership-multiplication model that equips men to move from participant to shepherd in Set Free recovery groups, funding the curriculum development and launch retreat for an inaugural cohort of ten men.
Triple Threat Mentoring
Triple Threat Mentoring increases opportunities for youth to prosper through mentorship, motivation, and guidance, focusing on young people facing the highest barriers to opportunity, belonging, and stability across the Portland metro area. Their work creates structured opportunities for youth to grow in responsibility, service, and identity while tangibly blessing the community — moving young people from passivity to purpose.
Brilliance Labs awarded Triple Threat Mentoring a $6,000 grant to fund their Saturday Senior Lawn Care Service Project, a summer service-learning initiative in which 15–20 youth provide free lawn care and yard cleanup for 25–35 Portland seniors over roughly eight Saturdays (June–August 2026). Each service day pairs hands-on work with reflection that connects the day's effort to character formation and community impact — seniors receive care they couldn't otherwise access, and young people learn that their service matters.
In total, Brilliance Labs awarded $37,500 in grant funding to seven organizations during our Spring 2026 round. We are grateful for the work each of these ministries is doing to serve and strengthen men and families across the greater Portland area.