Adidas Is Helping Small Business Owners Through Its Community Lab
These Black and Latine businesses are earning their stripes thanks to Adidas. I attended the Adidas Community Lab graduation event in Portland, OR, in May of this year. During the event, eight entrepreneurs from the businesses Loco Por La Aventura, Big Yard Foundation, Street Soccer USA PDX, Fridie Outdoors, Black Excellence Group, People of Color Outdoors, Play It Safe Flagging System, and Flow in the City completed the program.
During the program, which is entering its third year, business owners are mentored and receive training on how to pitch from experts. They have access to workshops, community connections, fireside chats, and networking opportunities with Adidas executives and others in the industry. The 2023-2024 Adidas Community Lab was an eight-month program where each participant received $75,000 in grant funding to implement new practices and grow their Portland businesses.
“We are excited to deepen connections with social entrepreneurs in Portland and continue to build an ecosystem of change that removes barriers faced by them and the communities we collectively serve, to accessing sport,” explains Ayesha Martin, Senior Director of Adidas Purpose, in a press release. “This is our second year of this program, which will continue to grow in years to come.”
Two of the participants in the 2023-2024 class were Latine-owned businesses. Vanessa Gomez is the founder of Flow in the City. Its mission is to embody Portland’s beauty through the lens of local artists while cultivating a safe space where the local artists’ work is displayed for intentional movement on a yoga mat. Gomez, who is Colombian, shares the reason for having the yoga studio as an art gallery in Portland. “I think oftentimes when you think of yoga, people think that they have to retreat to somewhere else, they have to go do something else, and I think that there’s really a powerful message to find peace where you are in the city that you’re in,” Gomez expresses to Remezcla.
She went into the importance of also being an art gallery, sharing: “First and foremost, it provides a different aspect of culture in the space. When you are doing yoga in a space, there is cultural art. When you feel represented, it is super powerful in changing the environment that you are in. There are seven arms of wellness, and intellectual wellness is giving yourself an opportunity to open your mind to different perspectives and creativity and try something new. So having art in our space is a form of healing.”
Anibal Rocheta’s company, Loco Por La Aventura, is also helping Latines in Portland embrace outdoor activities. They aim to make outdoor education accessible to all, fostering a sense of connection and appreciation for nature. The Venezuelan explains how participating in the program has allowed his business to expand and offer more resources to the Latine community and what it’s doing for other companies. “The possibility is given. [Having the opportunity to be a part of the Adidas’ Community Lab] in this case to the Latino community is to participate in this type of events, of how to make a marketing campaign, of how to learn to reach the community, and how to build a business. It has been a fascinating tool that Adidas has allowed us to be a part of this project with them,” Rocheta says.
Recently, Adidas announced the 12 new Black and Latine business owners as part of its 2024-2025 Community LAB cohort. The program has expanded beyond Portland to include cities like Toronto, Canada; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta, GA; and New York, NY. Adidas increased the cohort size and welcomed founders from Black Ambition as new partners.
“As Community Lab enters its third year, we are thrilled to cultivate a larger cohort of social entrepreneurs who share our vision of removing barriers to accessing sport for the communities we collectively serve. Alongside Black Ambition and our existing partners, together we are ushering in a sustainable ecosystem of change and a more equitable future,” Martin shares in a press release.
Among the 2024-2025 class, four of them are Latine-owned businesses. Hailing from Toronto, Heather Alonzo owns Ball Her Way, which aims to break barriers and promote gender equality in basketball in support of women and girls, encouraging their participation and empowerment both on and off the court. From New York, founders, Vidal Quesada Guzman & Javana Mundy Quesada founded La Familia Project. It’s a community-based sports, arts, and wellness free program offering wellness initiatives and mental health resources for youth, young adults, and seniors. Also from the Big Apple, Rich Rodriguez owns Harlem Free Fight Academy, a nonprofit providing mentorship, free boxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training to teens in NYC. And lastly, there’s Karina Martinez from Los Angeles, the founder of DRAFTED. Its mission is to ensure Latinas are never invisible in sports again through the power of storytelling and community to bring their narratives to the forefront.
Travel and accommodations were provided to the author by Adidas to write this story.
