Our Children Oregon

Policy and Advocacy Goals:
-Improve the engagement of Children’s Agenda partners
-Document and measure the influence of the Children’s Agenda
-Successfully launch a Youth-Led Cohort to support OCO's mission and scope of work.

We advocate with and for systemically excluded communities for policies and solutions grounded in equity, resource youth to self-advocate, and connect, learn, and engage with Oregon communities to collaboratively activate meaningful change.

The 2022 Children’s Agenda set forth a holistic set of policies and investments this year, uplifting impactful, equitable, and community-driven items to both advance new policy and see-through unfinished business. And today, we are celebrating the progress that this session made to live into this bold agenda and improve the lives of children and families across Oregon! Over the course of a short 32 days, the Oregon Legislature advanced policy and spending that will impact Oregonians for years to come, including all three of our session priorities:
-Oregon made a historic investment of nearly $100M into our child care sector that will go towards supporting providers and increasing access to care for families across the state
-The legislature invested in taking health care directly to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities as a strategy to address racism as a public health crisis.
-Oregonians facing immigration issues will now have access to legal assistance, called universal representation, helping immigrant families stay together.

The 2021 Children’s Agenda, a legislative policy agenda for Oregon’s future, was comprised of 11 priorities amid a total of 44 items addressing the holistic, intersectional needs of children. Centered in racial equity, the Agenda was championed by over 115 partners statewide in order to align efforts, work collaboratively, and powerfully show up for Oregon’s children, youth, and their families.
2021, unlike any other year, presented unique challenges to the typical legislative session. Whereas past sessions saw in-person engagement among advocates, policymakers, and the public in the halls of the Capitol, this year the legislative process was virtual in response to the public health concerns posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We thank our partners and the communities that came together amid these challenging circumstances to advance meaningful legislation and investments for Oregon’s children and families.