Wrapping up the Health and Education Fund
In 2014, the Health and Education Fund Partners—CareOregon, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Meyer Memorial Trust, Northwest Health Foundation and Oregon Community Foundation—began working together to build bridges between the health, education and early learning systems in Oregon. We saw an opportunity to improve life for children across our region, especially children facing the greatest obstacles to health and education, by supporting community and parent leadership and organizing to change policy and establish partnerships within and among these systems.
Some of the organizations and projects we funded were:
Community Alliance of Tenants Action Fund
The connection between housing and health is well established. Cost-burdened households (those paying more than 30% of their income on housing) make up half of Oregon’s households, and are often forced to choose between paying rent or healthy food and medical care. They are also more likely to experience housing instability, with devastating impacts.
Supported by $25,000 in grant funding from the Health and Education Fund, the Community Alliance of Tenants Action Fund led campaign efforts—in partnership with other tenant leaders—to develop and advocate for a statewide rent control bill through direct actions that included meetings with local legislators, securing legislative champions, testifying at legislative hearings, participating in local and national press opportunities, attending and speaking at local community events, and supporting local agencies. The bill passed and was signed by Governor Kate Brown in 2019!
Kairos PDX
Black students in Oregon receive lower quality education, less access and opportunity beginning in early childhood and persisting into adulthood. They also experience higher rates of poverty and housing instability, and lower rates of internet access that further hinder their access to educational and other enrichment opportunities.
Supported by over $100,000 in grant funding from the Health and Education Fund, KairosPDX simultaneously led several efforts to advocate for racial justice in the education system and advance the lives of Black children and families in 2020. Together with community allies and activists, KairosPDX worked to drive policy and systemic change to improve outcomes for Black youth in education, housing, justice and healthcare. These included policy demands to remove school resource officers, end zero tolerance discipline policies in schools, and mandate restorative justice practices and trainings for educators and students.
Latino Network Action Fund
High-quality early learning programs shape children’s early brain development, enhance kindergarten readiness, promote family health, and set children up for future educational and economic success. While early education plays an integral role in a child’s lifelong health and wellbeing, many children – particularly children living in poverty, children of color, children with disabilities and children whose home language is not English – miss out on early learning opportunities because they are unable to afford or access them. Oregon is ranked as one of the least affordable states in the nation for the cost of attending preschool.
As fiscal sponsor for the Preschool for All campaign coalition, Latino Network Action Fund built political power and advocacy capacity among five culturally specific non-profits which collectively contributed to the passage of a Multnomah County policy measure for universal preschool. In a historic election in November 2020, the Preschool for All ballot initiative passed with 64% of voters in Multnomah County approving the measure.
As we close the Health and Education Fund, we’d like to thank our Health and Education Fund Partners and all the grantees who took this vision and ran with it! We’ve seen a lot of successes and learned many lessons that we’re carrying forward into our current and future work with Civic Health and the Justice Reinvestment Equity Program.