Vibe Lab PDX

Week 6: Handle Your Business

This week wasn’t about sitting in a classroom talking about responsibility.

It was about practicing it.

On Monday, we talked about what it means to handle your business - showing up, communicating, staying organized, taking ownership, and following through.

On Tuesday, youth helped plan for real events.

Last night, they put it into practice.

Some of the Vibe Lab youth helped with the soft launch of The Social Supply’s outdoor movie night, serving food, making dirty sodas, helping customers, and working together as a team.

Today, some of them will step into another real event at SneakerWeek, and tomorrow we’ll keep building with our Car Basics workshop.

Every week builds on the last.

Because confidence doesn’t come from talking about responsibility.

It comes from practicing it.

🔥 PORTLAND CHEFS, FOOD CARTS, CATERERS & FOOD BUSINESSES…
WE WANT YOU!

Applications are now open for Cookin’ Up the Culture: The Flavor Games!

This isn’t your typical food festival. It’s a youth-led cooking competition created by the Vibe Lab youth, bringing together some of Portland’s best food for an afternoon of competition and community.

We’re looking for competitors in five categories:

Stack Attack (Best Burger)
Roux Dat! (Best Gumbo)
Smoke Show (Best BBQ)
Sweet Heat (Best Dessert)
The Sideshow (Best Side)

Compete for:
🏆 Category Awards
👑 People’s Choice Award
💵 $500 Grand Prize

You’ll also have the option to sell food during the event.

Spots are limited, so if you’ve been looking for a fun way to showcase your food, we’d love to see your application.

Flavor Games Vendor/Contestant Application Cookin’ Up the Culture: The Flavor Games is a youth-led Portland food competition created and hosted by the youth of Vibe Lab, with support from It’s A Vibe. It will be a high-energy, block-party-style event with food, music, games, and community fun at Parkrose Plaza. Competitors will battle in...

Flavor Games Update 👀

The Vibe Lab youth met, talked it through, and made a few changes to the competition.

We also listened to feedback from food businesses interested in competing, so here are the official categories:

STACK ATTACK — Best Burger
ROUX DAT! — Best Gumbo
SMOKE SHOW — Best Barbecue
SWEET HEAT — Best Dessert
THE SIDESHOW — Best Side Dish

And now there’s even more on the line:

$500 cash prize for the overall winner
People’s Choice Award
Guest judges + Vibe Lab youth judges

Each category will have a winner, and those winners will move on for a shot at becoming the first ever Flavor Games Champion.

Competitor spots are limited, and not everyone who applies will be selected.

Think your food can take the crown?

Apply here:
https://forms.gle/7WS4sURjFxyET9J26

🗳️ Your vote makes a direct positive impact for our youth participants!

In celebration of National Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week (July 19–25), we’ve teamed up with the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) for the PPPS Week Challenge!

Six incredible pieces of art created by PATHfinder Club members are up for a vote, all centered around the theme Connected for Change. The winning artist will receive $50 from APPA, and a donation will be made directly back to The PATHfinder Club!

Take a moment to celebrate these powerful youth voices and cast your vote today.

📲 Vote here: https://form.jotform.com/appaforms/2026-PPPS-Week-Challenge

Week 4: Move Different Under Pressure.

Earlier in the week, youth had real conversations about pressure, communication, and how one moment can affect what comes next.

This weekend, they were putting those lessons to work in real time at the jazz festival - helping customers, working as a team, staying ready, and learning how to move with confidence when things got busy.

That’s what Vibe Lab is about.
Not just hearing it. Practicing it.

This week, Vibe Lab youth learned that money works best when it has a plan.

Today, they put those lessons into perspective by talking through what they would do with the $750 they’ll earn during the cohort - we explored investing and thinking beyond the next purchase.

A few also chose to stay and gain extra experience working the Parkrose Plaza Grand Opening.

Before heading home, each participant received their Vibe Lab backpack, shirts and event-ready bag - filled with items they identified during Week 1 as tools they would actually need on the job.

Every week they’re building more than skills.
They’re building confidence, responsibility, and a foundation for what’s next.

Week 3 is Hustle with a Plan.

On Monday, youth talked about needs, wants, pressure, and what it means to give your money a plan before it gets spent.

They also talked about food - what they usually have at home, what feels realistic to make, and what they wanted to learn how to cook.

The group landed on butter chicken and naan.

So yesterday, they got in the kitchen and made it.

That’s Vibe Lab. We don’t just talk about life skills. We find ways for youth to practice them in real life - with food, money, choices, teamwork, and confidence all connected.

Get paid. Learn skills. Move different.

This week, Vibe Lab youth worked on trust.

Not the kind people just hand you. The kind you build.

How you show up. How you communicate. How you handle feedback. How you work with a team. How you carry your name when people are counting on you.

These may look like small moments, but this is the work that follows young people into jobs, business, relationships, and real life.

Get paid. Learn skills. Move different.