Oregon Alliance

Make sure to sign up for your spot in these upcoming June trainings by the Center for Excellence!

"Grief and Intersectionality: Addressing Unique Grieving Experiences within Latino & Latinx Cultures" will focus on how the universal experience of grief is uniquely connected to culture and explore the language used to describe the grief experience within the Latino/Latinx culture and its impact in the Latino/Latinx community: https://oal.memberclicks.net/latinogriefexperiencesjune26 #/

"From Foundations to Foresight: Executive AI Readiness for Mission‑Driven Organizations" is designed for individuals in leadership roles to build a practical foundation of how AI presents itself in the workplace and how to create reliability and safety in its usage: https://oal.memberclicks.net/aireadinessjune26 #/

Did you know that the universal experience of grief is uniquely connected to culture?

For people who identify as Latino or Latinx, there are numerous ways in which grief and culture intersect. We are partnering with The Dougy Center to present "Grief and Intersectionality: Addressing Unique Grieving Experiences within Latino & Latinx Cultures". This presentation will explore the language used to describe the grief experience within the Latino/Latinx culture and its impact in the Latino/Latinx community.

Be sure to sign up for your spot at our website on our Trainings page today: https://www.oregonalliance.org/trainings

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/

In the days following our Summit, we have been fondly looking back at our presentations and what they meant to our theme of "Rooted in Belonging" and permanency.

Our Wednesday sessions were a brilliant set of back-to-back presentations, both of which respectively covered how Oregon Department of Human Services and Alliance member Bridge Meadows have responded to specific needs of families and youth in Oregon. The former discussed how the "District 11 Family Stability Project" came to fruition in response to the resounding needs of families experiencing barriers in the Child Welfare system, and how its implementation has already created major changes in the system, such as the Klamath County foster care system dropping from 305 children in June 2017 to an all-time low of 128 in September of 2023. The latter explored how Bridge Meadows works tirelessly to encourage community building by bringing together community connection, affordable housing, and social services to support youth impacted by foster care, their caregivers, and elders.

More Summit highlights are to come!

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!

The Oregon Alliance and Center for Excellence are very proud to announce that our CEO Vera Stoulil will be a keynote presenter at ACRC's upcoming Annual Conference! 🎉

Please join us in congratulating Vera on this important distinction, and many thanks to ACRC for the recognition.

Registration for the 2026 Summit is NOW OPEN! 🎉 Register for your spot on our website today, and we will see you at Salishan Coastal Lodge on April 8 - 10! Register here: https://oal.memberclicks.net/summit2026 #/

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!