Mayor Keith Wilson has asked Prosper Portland’s board to review three contracts approved by Executive Director Cornell Wesley, Willamette Week reported. Together, the contracts total $456,000; the agency had paid about $264,000 by late September, the outlet said.
Prosper Portland’s volunteer Board of Commissioners is approved by City Council and has authority under the City Charter to administer the agency’s business activities, according to the agency’s website. Board Chair Gustavo Cruz said he had not known the contracts’ details or that two consultants had college ties to Wesley before the reporting appeared, Willamette Week reported. The outlet also reported that three city councilors had raised concerns; Council President Jamie Dunphy called for greater public accountability.
Prosper Portland’s website says its volunteer Board of Commissioners is approved by City Council and has authority under the City Charter to administer the agency’s business activities. Willamette Week reported that Wesley could approve contracts below $500,000 without board approval, and that none of these three contracts went to the board before approval.
The contracts went to Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller, Cincinnati-based law firm Taft and Chicago-based Synergy Credit Union Consulting, according to Willamette Week’s investigation. Ice Miller’s contract, signed in December 2025, was for up to $132,000. Its lead attorney, Jarrod Loadholt, graduated from Morehouse College with Wesley in 2005, the outlet reported. Taft’s contract was for $132,000 and was signed in June; the report does not establish a personal connection between Wesley and Taft.
Synergy’s founder, Ancin Cooley, attended Morehouse with Wesley for three years and belonged to the same fraternity, Willamette Week reported. The contract began at $85,000 and increased to $165,000 after two extensions, with work running through December 2026. The outlet said all three contractors are based outside Oregon and appeared to have no previous work history in Portland or the state.
On the procurement process, Willamette Week reported that the Synergy contract should have undergone competitive procurement but that Wesley approved an exemption. The outlet also reported that Prosper Portland declined to provide a basic description of the work for two contracts, citing attorney-client privilege.
What the procurement guidance says
Prosper Portland’s vendor guidance says purchases from $50,000 to $250,000 require inviting at least three vendors to respond to a written solicitation, while purchases above $250,000 use a formal procurement. The guidance sets out competition thresholds, but by itself does not establish which procedures applied to these contracts or whether an exception was documented.
