Events

Help make Oregon a state where all children thrive and join us for our next event!

Special Events

2022 Youth-Powered Governor's Debate!

Saturday October 22, 2022 @ 6pm

Save the date for The Debate for Oregon’s Future and hear from the 2022 candidates for Governor of Oregon in a youth-powered debate moderated by OPB’s “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller.

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

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Tue, Dec 5, 2023

State of Oregon’s Children

Join Our Children Oregon on December 5th at 12:00 p.m. for an in-depth exploration of the 2023 Oregon Kids Count data. This online event spotlights the experiences and well-being of Oregon’s children by delving into various aspects of child well-being within our state, from education and healthcare to family support, all through the lens of Kids Count’s data-driven insights.

Hosted on Zoom, this event unites our community with a shared mission – ensuring a brighter future for Oregon’s children.

Wed, Jan 31, 2024

Lights for Our Children

Mon, Feb 5, 2024

Short Legislative Session Begins

Sun, Mar 10, 2024

Short Legislative Session Ends

Past Events

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Mon, Aug 21, 2023

Do you have a passion for literacy? Are you interested in honing your skills to support young learners or possibly hosting a Literacy Night event? Engage in 5 interactive breakout sessions covering vowel and consonant sounds, high-frequency words, sound counting, blending, and the intriguing world of morphemes (word parts).

Tue, Jun 13, 2023

You’re invited to hear from Our Children Oregon’s Advocacy & Policy Director, Ivy Major-McDowall, and Executive Director, Jenifer Wagley, as they share exciting updates about this legislative session. They’ll share outcomes from our first Advocacy Day in May and how your contributions directly enable grassroots advocacy for Oregon’s children and youth.

Have burning questions? We’ve got you covered! The event will conclude with an interactive Q&A session.

This event is free and open to the public. Spread the word and invite your community members who may be interested.

Thu, May 4, 2023

Join Our Children Oregon for our first-ever Children’s Advocacy Day 2023! Whether you’re a youth, a community member, a family, or an ACT member – you can advocate improving the lives of Oregon children and youth! In just 30 minutes, you can show up and share with your legislator why kids matter to you.

Now that we have over half of Oregon legislators confirmed to attend we have shifted our registration to SignUpGenius, so you can pick the legislator closest to you! If you previously registered, please also register via SignUpGenius to commit to the times you are available. Your voice matters; don’t miss out on this important opportunity to make an impact. Team OCO will share an Advocacy Day Resource packet with everything you need to prepare, whether you’ve done this 1000 times or are brand new to advocacy.

Tue, Mar 14, 2023

Our Children Oregon prepares ACT members for Children’s Advocacy Day. Our virtual training on March 14, Investing in Oregon’s Children: The 2023 Children’s Agenda, will give updates on 2023 Children Agenda priorities, breakdown legislative concepts, and share how past agenda concepts made it through the Oregon legislature.

Tue, Nov 15, 2022

Join OCO on Tuesday, November 15th from 12–1 PM for an interactive conversation on the impacts of climate change on child well-being in Oregon. The event will follow our October 12th youth climate forum in collaboration with OPB’s “Think Out Loud®.” In addition to highlighting key findings from our upcoming climate change issue brief, expert panelists will speak to the nuanced intersections of climate and child advocacy.

 

Thu, Oct 13, 2022

This training covers the basics of when and how to reach out to journalists in a respectful, effective way that helps to advocate for Our Children Oregon’s legislative agenda. It includes: How the news can help advance a legislative agenda. Finding journalists. Contacting journalists. What to say/write and when to say it. And getting news and opinion pieces published.

 

Wed, Oct 12, 2022

OCO’s Youth ACT Leaders work in partnership with OPB’s Think Out Loud to bring attention to the disconnect between climate urgency and inadequate policies to address it. The youth of Oregon deserve a voice in shaping the policies that affect them. Learn more about their perspectives in a conversation with OPB’s Allison Frost and Oregon climate activists.

Thu, Sep 29, 2022

This event is part of the ACT 101 Training Series which consists of 3-big topics, featuring 2 workshops in each.

Attend all six or pick and choose the workshops that best fit your interests.

This virtual training hosted by Sue Wendel, professional public speaking coach shares ways to apply effective public speaking skills to your legislative testimony that is clear, concise, and conversational in tone to enhance and strengthen your message. Sue provides tips for providing oral testimony via Zoom and ways to shift public speaking fears into a positive mindset.

Thu, Sep 15, 2022

This event is part of the ACT 101 Training Series which consists of 3-big topics featuring 2 workshops in each. This free series will support attendees in building skills in advocacy and civic engagement. ​​Storytelling is fundamental to human societies – and therefore, to social change. But not all stories are created equal. This training series hosted by FrameWorks’ is designed to teach more effective ways of establishing narratives that set up policy thinking and enable large-scale social change.

When it comes to giving legislative testimony, received wisdom is to share a story, to make it compelling, but to keep it short! In this session, drawing from the insights learned in Storytelling 101, we looked at some example testimony (good, better, and best) to help participants build comfort with utilizing framing strategies that help testimony DO everything that it can do. Participants also had the opportunity to practice creating, giving, and getting feedback in order to support one another in implementing and sustaining this practice going forward. 

Wed, Sep 14, 2022

Our Children Oregon invites you to hear the latest data on child well-being, understand how the pandemic continues to have lasting effects on our children and families, and uplift the opportunities we have together, to bring about transformational change for Oregon’s next generation.

 

Thu, Sep 1, 2022

This event is part of the ACT 101 Training Series which consists of 3-big topics featuring 2 workshops in each.  This free series will support attendees in building skills in advocacy and civic engagement. Storytelling is fundamental to human societies – and therefore, to social change. But not all stories are created equal. This training series hosted by FrameWorks’ is designed to teach more effective ways of establishing narratives that set up policy thinking and enable large-scale social change.

This introductory session held on September 1st shared FrameWorks’ research-informed strategies for harnessing the power of storytelling for social change. This process involves helping the public view the essential needs of children and their families as public concerns, not as private issues. It also involves using stories as invitations to the public to think in terms of systems and solutions and to engage as citizens. Participants had the opportunity to practice evaluating narratives for their ability to create the change we are working to create.

Thu, Aug 18, 2022

This event is part of the ACT 101 Training Series which consists of 3-big topics featuring 2 workshops in each. This free series will support attendees in building skills in advocacy and civic engagement.

Hosted by Oregon Student Voice‘s alumnus, Jackson Weinberg, this training will center around how to organize a group to initiate change in your community. In the session, we discussed how to start and run a team as well as organizational styles to lead your team such as team first leadership. In addition, the training covered methods to network with others to increase the effectiveness of your group through forming partnerships. Following, the training dove into how to use organization to advocate for a common cause and featured a nonprofit advocacy organization to share their tips and how their organization methods attributed to their success.  The strategies discussed in this training are universal in that they can be applied in forming a new team or developing an existing team.

Thu, Aug 4, 2022

This event is part of the ACT 101 Training Series which consists of 3-big topics featuring 2 workshops in each. This free series will support attendees in building skills in advocacy and civic engagement. 

Hosted by Oregon Student Voice‘s alumna, Gabriella Dover, State Government 101 set the foundation for this 6-course series by teaching the roles that different aspects of state government play in our lives. By the end of this workshop, you will understand the important people and departments that make up our state government. Gabriella takes a brief look at city-level governments while sharing a deeper understanding of who to contact when you want to affect change in your local community and at the state level.  Advocacy within the education system is used as an example throughout this workshop.

Wed, Jun 15, 2022

Reading is a foundational skill for children to succeed in school and life. Although research shows almost every child can learn to read, more than half of Oregon’s 3rd graders are not reading at grade level, with disproportionate disparities in our state’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and rural communities. Let state leaders know you believe our most struggling K-5 schools should have the tools they need, including teacher training and intensive tutoring, to ensure all children learn to read. 

 

Tue, May 17, 2022

On May 17th we held an interactive discussion on the current realities of learning, and teaching to read in our state, and findings shared in Our Children Oregon’s issue brief on Oregon’s literacy crisis, prepared in collaboration with Decoding Dyslexia Oregon. This conversation included pandemic-related impacts on young learners and what it will take to solve long-standing disparities in literacy rates.

Panelists:

Tue, Apr 26, 2022

On April 26th we had a conversation on the state of Oregon’s Child Welfare system and what’s at stake with recent threats to the Indian Child Welfare Act. Data on current Child Welfare trends were shared and then we dived deep into the realities of Child Welfare for Tribal communities and how we can act together to support our Indigenous communities. Panelists include Oregon Representative Tawna Sanchez of District 43 and Dr. Sarah Kastelic, Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association.

Wed, Mar 16, 2022

On Wednesday, March 16th we held a conversation and Q&A breaking down the events of this past short session and the wins for the 2022 Children’s Agenda. We explored what it took to advance progress for children and families, why it matters, and what comes next. Panelists included Courtney Helstein from Family Forward, Isa Peña from Innovation Law Lab, and Leslie Gregory from Right to Health (also a member of the Health Equity Task Force). Ivy Major-McDowall, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Our Children Oregon served as moderator.

Fri, Mar 4, 2022

We invite you to join Our Children Oregon and the partners of the Children’s Agenda to elevate and amplify the items on the 2022 Children’s Agenda. When we advocate with a unified voice for impactful policy and investments for children and families, we help build a future where both present and future generations of Oregonians can thrive.

Mon, Feb 28, 2022

This virtual event will include a discussion of the recently released issue brief Oregon’s Child Care Conundrum. Panelists included Courtney Helstein, Political Director, Family Forward Oregon and Jessica Rosengreen, Child Care Resource & Referral of Washington County, Community Action and there was plenty of opportunity for Q&A.

Wed, Jan 26, 2022

Join Our Children Oregon’s ACT Collective and our partner, Consejo Hispano, for an informational webinar on the Child Tax Credit (CTC). This one-hour virtual event will feature panelists and a Q&A to discuss data and research on the CTC, why it matters for Oregon families, and how to access it.

Tue, Oct 26, 2021

Join us to hear what Oregonians identified as barriers to their civic participation, the solutions they are calling for, and learn how some organizations in Oregon are working to make civic engagement and activism more accessible to families with children. This virtual event currently includes panelists from the Oregon Values & Belief CenterFamilies for ClimatePolitisit, and the Oregon Food Bank.

Tue, Aug 31, 2021

Join us for a panel discussion and Q&A around the recently released issue brief, Safe, Supported, and Cherished: Child Welfare System Reform in Oregon, and efforts underway to reform child welfare in Oregon. Panelists include Rebecca Jones Gaston, Oregon’s child welfare director; Jeff Todahl, director of 90 by 30 Reduce Child Abuse; and Peggy Ting, MSW, a former OCO intern alumna and lead author of the issue brief.