Former Governor Kitzhaber Describes the Upstream

If anything were possible, what would it take to ensure that every child, family and community has an equitable opportunity to succeed?

The Upstream Initiative, a project of the Oregon Health and Education Collaborative, is inviting communities across the state to submit Letters of Interest (LOI) to participate in a year-long Community Design Pilot to develop Child Success Models (CSMs) and transform local systems of care during the first 1,000 days of life.

Design Pilots will engage in a co-imagining process with expert facilitation, participate in a Learning Collaborative with peer-to-peer learning, and contribute their learnings to the development of a CSM strategy for the state of Oregon that incorporates local wisdom.

Watch the video to hear former Governor John Kitzhaber (Board Chair of OHEC) describe the Upstream Initiative. This is a two minute clip extracted from his full keynote speech that was delivered in March 2023 at a Family Building Blocks event.

We encourage you to consider applying to participate in this "blue sky" design effort to co-imagine systems of care and ensure every child has the best possible start in life.