Children’s Institute (CI) develops and implements innovative approaches to support children’s healthy development, kindergarten readiness, and academic success. We use what we learn from our school-based and health initiatives to inform legislative priorities and support public investments in early childhood. This ensures that we advocate for programs and services—like preschool, childcare, and home visiting—that meet the needs of diverse communities across Oregon and address longstanding racial and economic inequities. 

 

Policy, Advocacy & Community Engagement (PACE): We lead a statewide coordinated strategy for a bold early childhood policy and advocacy agenda that support the well-being of the whole child, their families, and communities. 

 

Early Works: Early Works is a ten-year collective impact approach to supporting families and young children by building school-community partnerships and connecting families to wraparound support and resources long before children enter kindergarten. CI has led Early Works sites at Earl Boyles in outer SE Portland and Yoncalla, located in rural Oregon.

Early School Success (ESS): CI Improvement Specialists coach diverse teams of teachers, early learning staff, and community partners in this three-to-five year initiative, by working with them to identify a problem of practice, create change ideas, and implement innovative new strategies to better support positive outcomes for children preschool through elementary school. In addition, CI developed the Early Learning Academy (ELA), a one-year cohort-based learning experience for educators and leaders working to strengthen early learning in their district. 

Health and Learning Initiative: With our partners at Oregon Pediatric Improvement Partnership and Oregon Health Authority, we developed a groundbreaking incentive metric focused on children’s behavioral and social-emotional health, from birth to age 5. In the fall of 2023, we will hire a Health Policy Manager who will address advocacy and alignment between early childhood and health systems. 

 

Research: CI engages with research in three ways: we translate large-scale research and population census data in ways that illuminate gaps and need in funding and services for young children that can then identify and influence needed improvements to policy and programs, we evaluate our programs and initiatives, and we apply research practices to shape advocacy, program design, and implementation efforts.