Oregon Alliance

Join Alliance member Bridge Meadows for their 2026 Bridge Builder Summit this Thursday!

This free summit invites its attendees to examine how intentional, intergenerational strategies can drive meaningful and sustainable change. Note that a hybrid option IS available for attendees.

Visit this link to sign up for their Summit! https://secure.qgiv.com/for/bridgemeadows/event/2026bridgebuildersummit/

For our 2026 Summit, we were honored to be joined by Linda S. Spears as our Keynote Presenter for our theme, "Rooted in Belonging: Reimagining Families, Connection, and Care".

In her presentation "Reimagining Permanency", Linda drew upon her experience as a veteran social worker and policy expert to consider the lessons learned from past and current procedural reforms and permanency models and address the fundamental needs to meet developmental and relational needs of families and children.

Linda has served as the C.E.O. of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) since 2013 and has been responsible for leading a system-wide transformation that supported policy reforms, restructured recruitment styles, and supported various operations. We are incredibly grateful to Linda for being our Keynote Speaker, and for providing her expertise and thoughtful discussion at our 2026 Summit.

The Forest Therapy walk at the Annual Summit offered providers a rare and intentional pause within the pace of their daily work.

Guided through a slow, sensory-based experience in the natural environment, participants were invited to step out of their usual roles and reconnect with themselves, one another, and the surrounding landscape.

The Alliance and Center were lucky to have our Operations Director, Shawna Hartung, lead our second Forest Therapy Walk at this year's Summit. Through Shawna's efforts, participants were able to begin the Summit with fresh reminders on self-grounding and restoration.

2 weeks ago, our Alliance member Youth Unlimited Inc. hosted their Grand Opening event of Oregon's first Individual Residential Center in Gresham.

This new residential center serves as a brand-new step in the direction of serving youth experiencing placement disruption by providing a safe, stable, and comfortable environment. Former Executive Director April Johnson also used this opportunity to pass the baton to YUI's new Executive Director, Jacque Serrano.

Please join us in congratulating Youth Unlimited, Inc. for their exciting new changes!

Thank you to the Children's Center of Clackamas County and Simon Fulford of Parrott Creek for inviting the Oregon Alliance to attend the Community Conversations and Connections event this week. In times such as these, it is important to be given opportunities to connect with our local non-profit friends and community members to learn from each other and hear real-time highlights and challenges that other folks are experiencing.

We look forward to attending another Community Conversations and Connections event soon!