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GO Kids Program

The GO Kids program has now come to a close. Thank you to all the people and organizations that made this program possible. Stay tuned for a summary of our findings in early 2024.

All Children in Oregon Deserve the Opportunity to Succeed

2022 GO Kids Updates 

The GO Kids initiative aims to overcome Oregon’s opportunity gap – disparities experienced by children because of where they live, their race or family circumstance – by working with volunteers throughout Oregon.

Goals

  • Spotlight the toxic effects of the opportunity gap on children, families and the prosperity of our communities, state and country.
  • Trigger ideas for local solutions, and motivate and catalyze action.
  • Engage volunteers, partners and civic leaders in innovative and effective place-based efforts to close the opportunity gap.

Principles

  • Kids who experience systemic racism and marginalization, lack of resources in low-income families, and an underinvestment in rural and isolated communities are disproportionately deprived of opportunities to learn and thrive.
  • Impactful, creative and sustainable solutions for kids come from local community members with lived experience of opportunity gaps and are implemented by organizations trusted by the community.
  • Resources for education and the arts create possibilities for kids and families’ futures.
  • We value Oregon’s diverse regions and populations, and we seek to advance equity, diversity and inclusion through our funding.
  • We are committed to funding across Oregon with grant dollars reaching every region of our state.
  • Raising local awareness of opportunity gaps with community leaders and members is an important step toward change.
  • Social capital, defined as community relationships and networks, is a powerful resource to complement funding.
  • All children in Oregon deserve the opportunity to succeed regardless of their economic status, race, region or other circumstances of birth.

Investment

OCF is investing $3 million from 2019 to 2022, mainly from the Fred Fields Fund. In addition to project management and administration, this investment includes:

  • Roughly $480,000 in small grants for research, education, convening and promotion.
  • Up to $2 million for larger competitive grants.

OCF's Efforts to Address the Opportunity Gap

The circumstances a child is born into, coupled with longstanding patterns of discrimination, largely determine the life that child can achieve.

Learn More

Click here to see the map of OCF regions.

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For further reading, download our initiative overview, GO Kids: Engaging Communities to Close the Opportunity Gap.

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Lifelong Passion for Community Service

Anne Schuster is one of our amazing volunteers, serving as a member of the OCF Southern Willamette Valley GO Kids steering committee and the OCF Southern Willamette Valley Leadership Council.

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Southern Willamette Valley
Education
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In 2017, OCF published Toward a Thriving Future: Closing the Opportunity Gap for Oregon’s Kids. This report provided Oregon-specific opportunity gap data organized into three domains: neighborhoods and communities, family stability and supports, and education.

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