2025 Legislative Update
During the 2025 Oregon Legislative Session, The Collaborative is leading advocacy for the Child Success Act (SB 1167) and contributed to the Housing portion of the Momnibus with SB 1155.
The Child Success Act will invest $12 million across seven Demonstration Pilot communities, allowing them to implement elements of their regionally-specific Child Success Models developed as part of the Upstream Initiative.
THE UPSTREAM INITIATIVE
The Upstream Initiative is building stronger futures by ensuring every family has what they need during the most critical period of a child’s development, prenatal through age 2.
The Upstream Initiative aims to transform early childhood and perinatal support systems in Oregon by focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child's life, a critical period for brain development, early relational health and long-term well-being.
The community-driven effort is bringing together health, education, and social service partners to address root causes like poverty, racism, and housing instability through proactive, upstream investments.
Supporting Children and Families from the Start
In Oregon, we believe every child deserves a strong start in life, no matter where they live, their ethnic or cultural background, or their family’s economic situation. But for too many families, this strong start is undermined by the toxic stress of living with poverty, which is the result of systemic inequality closely associated with race and, increasingly, living in a rural community.
The Upstream Initiative, convened by the Oregon Health and Education Collaborative, aims to transform early childhood and perinatal support systems in Oregon by focusing on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pregnancy to age 2. As a community-driven effort, the Upstream Initiative brings together health, education, and social service partners to address the root causes of poverty, substance use disorder, and housing instability through upstream collaboration and investment in early childhood.
Statewide policy change led by local experience
At the heart of the Upstream Initiative are community-based demonstration pilots that have brought together practitioners and professionals to develop Child Success Models that connect pregnant and birthing people, 0-2 year olds and their caregivers with resources, health care, and supportive social connections.
Demonstration pilots include leaders and practitioners in health care, education, and early childhood care, plus families with lived experience. Most demonstration pilots are hosted by Early Learning Hubs that coordinate programs and services across sectors at the regional level.
The Child Success Model is each demonstration pilot’s blueprint for building local support systems that connect families with vital resources, informed by the wisdom of local families and service providers. Child Success Models improve access to health care and deepen social connections during pregnancy and a child’s first 1,000 days of life.
Read reports from each of the five demonstration pilots, detailing their community’s Child Success Model:
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Blue Mountain Early Learning Hub
Umatilla, Morrow and Union Counties
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Early Childhood Hub of Lane County
Lane County
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KairosPDX
Multnomah County
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Marion & Polk Early Learning Hub
Marion & Polk Counties
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Yamhill Community Care
Yamhill County
The Upstream Initiative includes a Statewide Learning Collaborative, a platform for communities to share experiences, lessons, barriers, insights, and best practices throughout the design process.
In addition to the Design Pilots, two local “learning communities” — regions with robust, innovative early childhood initiatives — also participate in the Statewide Learning Collaborative:
Southern Oregon Success (Jackson and Josephine Counties)
The Linn-Benton and Lincoln County Early Learning Hub
The Upstream Approach
Starting upstream means investing in proactive measures that address the root causes of health and social issues, rather than waiting to treat problems after they occur.
Upstream investments during a child’s first 1,000 days result in better downstream outcomes for adults, including higher graduation rates, higher lifetime income, lower rates of incarceration and lower healthcare costs.
Together, we can build compassionate and connected systems that help families find the support they need with ease, and without shame, so their children can thrive.