Our Commitment to Oregon’s Children—Now and Forward
At Our Children Oregon, we hold ourselves to the highest standards in serving Oregon’s children, youth, and the organizations that support them. Recently, we identified a delay in distributing designated funds to child abuse prevention partners—a breakdown in our systems that we take seriously. Those funds have now been disbursed in full, and we’ve taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.
We recognize that delayed disbursements created unnecessary strain for child abuse prevention organizations working with limited resources—and we are committed to repairing that harm through action.
Our work is too important for missteps. We are guided by principles of restorative justice—accountability, repair, and inclusive dialogue—to rebuild trust with our partners and stakeholders.
Please read on for the restorative framework we are utilizing to more closely align to our mission and vision.
To our partners and supporters: Thank you for your dedication to Oregon’s children. We don’t take your trust for granted, and we’re committed to earning it every day. We welcome feedback from our community as we continue to improve.
– Matt Bartolotti
Advancing Our Mission: Strengthening OCO’s Foundation
What We've Done:
- Distributed all delayed funds to impacted partners, with corrected disbursement processes now in place.
- Engaged interim Executive Directors Danielle Klock, and recently Danny Mankin, to leverage their expertise in:
- Nonprofit financial oversight and accountability systems
- Governance alignment
- Stabilizing operations during transition
- Next month we’re launching the Children’s Agenda Partners Forum to improve support, community building, and communication with The Children’s Agenda organizations and teams.
- Initiated a board-led review of fiscal and operational policies to prevent future gaps.
Where We’re Headed:
OCO’s transitions have reinforced our commitment to improvement. As we complete our search for, and forthcoming welcome of a new permanent Executive Director, we’re refining our strategic vision and doubling down on what works: our data-driven advocacy, our collective impact through The Children’s Agenda and policy work, and reigniting and institutionalizing the core of our mission: child abuse prevention work.
