More than 183,850 children were living in poverty in Oregon in 2010. These latest national numbers available show that 21.6 percent of Oregon's children were living in poverty, up nearly 2.4 percent over the previous year. In the one year period from January 2011 to January 2012, there was an 8 percent rise in the number of SNAP (food stamp) recipients in Oregon. In January 2011 there were 404,408 households receiving SNAP; one year later 435,985 households were receiving this assistance.

Considering the long term health and earnings consequences of childhood poverty, it would be safe to estimate that the financial cost to Oregon in the future will be in the billions of dollars. Beyond the dollar costs, the value put on lost opportunity and lost lives is immeasurable.

This Poverty Action Team Report, Child Poverty in Oregon, was written by the state office with support from the central Oregon non-profit group, The Partnership to End Poverty, at the request of the State Commission on Children and Families in response to increased community identification of, and concern for, addressing child and family poverty.

As a result of the most recent comprehensive planning biennial update process, 30 of 36 local Commissions on Children and Families noted the increased impact of poverty on the community, specifically on children and families. Issues related to homelessness, hunger, unemployment, affordable housing, child care and transportation were identified as community issues, service gaps and barriers. Research shows that child poverty is linked with lower levels of child well-being and that long-term childhood poverty is a strong predictor of adult poverty.

The State Commission appointed the Poverty Action Team to research and recommend policy and programmatic interventions that would increase our state's ability to more effectively reduce and mitigate the negative impact of child and family poverty. This report provides a context for understanding and addressing child poverty in Oregon.

We are pleased to announce that Oregon has received, along with one other state, the highest competitive development grant award for home visiting. Thirteen states were awarded these grants. Oregon will receive $3.3 million each year for two years to implement four Nurse Family Partnership programs in five communities in Oregon. The communities are Jefferson, Lane, Lincoln and the region of Umatilla-Morrow. This grant also includes state-level infrastructure to support our Statewide Home Visiting Framework development. Healthy Start~Healthy Families Oregon, Relief Nurseries and the Oregon Commission on Children and Families are partners in this framework development.

Oregon was also approved for Year 2 of the Formula Grant for $1.4 million. This includes the expansion of three Healthy Start~ Healthy Families programs in Oregon: the Malheur, Tillamook and Multnomah programs. These represent frontier, rural and urban communities which are demonstration sites for extensive benchmark data collection and reporting.

OCCF has published the Strengthening Neighborhoods Through Faith-Based and Community Partnerships Guide. An outgrowth of the Faith-Based Initiative established to develop strategies to strengthen connections between people of faith with other human services to address social issues, the resource guide offers step-by-step advice to set up faith and neighborhood partnerships in Oregon. This can be used by congregations, nonprofit social services providers, government agencies, businesses and neighborhood members who want to bulk up support for healthy and thriving communities.

Commission on Children & Families
530 Center Street NE, Suite 100
Salem, Oregon 97301
503-373-1283