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Kitzhaber and hubs urge council to back "Upstream" pilots focused on the first 1,000 days
Summary
Former governor John Kitzhaber and leaders from Marion‑Polk, Blue Mountain and Southern Oregon hubs described five Upstream design pilots that link hubs with coordinated care organizations to provide locally designed child success models for the first 1,000 days. The council was asked to formally endorse and support implementation and cross‑agency alignment.
John Kitzhaber, chair of the Oregon Health and Education Collaborative and former governor, asked the council to formally endorse the Upstream initiative: five community design pilots led by early learning hubs to test hub‑led child success models focused on conception through age two. "Early relational health is a basic biological need," Kitzhaber said, framing the initiative as an opportunity to invest earlier and more cost‑effectively in child outcomes.
Hub directors described local pilot strategies: Marion‑Polk’s emphasis on resource hubs, culturally competent training and postpartum support groups; Blue Mountain’s locally designed navigators, mobile units for rural access and converting unused preschool promise slots to infant/toddler slots; and Southern Oregon’s family success plans providing flexible funds and navigation paired with a regional financing strategy. Peter Buckley described measurable pilots including navigator inventories and long‑term outcome tracking.
Kitzhaber asked the council to endorse the design pilots and to encourage agency partners to support local implementation and evaluation so the state can scale what works. Council members and agency directors discussed data baselines and ODHS’s readiness to help with long‑term tracking.
