Kali Thorne Ladd reflects on the recent Champions for Children - 20 Years of Impact event, which celebrated the past 20 years of Children's Institute's work to make Oregon the best place to be a kid. Thank you to all the champions for children who joined us and if you couldn't make it, read on to see how you can join our movement.
This longform piece, written by guest contributor Adriane Blackman, details how Yoncalla Early Works has driven an ecosystem of community and care to support the health and wellbeing of children and families in rural, southern Oregon.
The sun dips lower in the sky on a hazy evening in late August, casting a warm golden hue across the football field at Yoncalla High School. The hum of excited chatter sets the scene, and children laugh and play. As the night unfolds, the sounds of music from a live band dance through the air as families mingle and children savor the remaining sunlight, on the cusp of a new school year. Framed by a stunning view of the Umpqua Valley, Yoncalla’s annual community barbecue has become a symbol of togetherness, woven into the fabric of the town.
In this episode of the Early Link Podcast, our host Rafael Otto speaks with Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, interim executive director and chief program officer at Grantmakers for Education, about the need for transformational change in the education system.
On this episode of The Early Link Podcast, our host Rafael Otto speaks with Jennifer Gould who currently works as a Nurse Home Visitor for the Nurse Family Partnership program with the Multnomah County Health Department. The Nurse Family Partnership is a community based, public health program with 45 years of research showing evidence of significant improvements in the health and lives of first-time moms and their children affected by social and economic inequality.
Social-emotional learning has become a big buzzword and a big industry in recent years. The term has been around for a couple of decades, but around 2015 it really took off. What wasn’t clear to us is what parents thought of this new fad in education, so we worked with the global polling firm YouGov to conduct this survey.
On our latest episode, host Rafael Otto speaks with Dr. Christian Molstrom about the opportunities that summer camps provide for kids, and some of the challenges they may encounter before they attend.
On this episode of the Early Link Podcast, host Rafael Otto speaks with Lacey Hays, a parent and advocate in Washington County here in Oregon. She’s currently co-chair for the Early Learning Washington County Steering Committee and a member of both the Preschool for All Technical Advisory Committee and the Organizing and Outreach Committee. All of that work is in support of establishing Preschool for All in Washington County.
In this segment of The Early Link Podcast, host Rafael Otto speaks with Rashelle Chase-Miller, who is an activist and a mom. She’s authored many articles and works in early childhood curriculum development. She’s also founder of Mxm Bloc, a Black mxm led mutual-aid group that supports Black families, and Reproductive Rights PDX.
Moms are tenacious. Moms are strong. And most importantly, moms give all they've got to make sure their kids have what they need. We need tenacity and strength from moms in our movement! We know that a brighter future for our state rests on a foundation of love...
