Organize Overcome Reclaim Uplift
PILOT.
We are piloting the design of our first community care plan in East Portland, Oregon.
When schools notice a child struggling at home—due to poverty, lack of access to basic needs, or family violence—the default response is often to call Child Protective Services (CPS). While often made with genuine concern, these calls happen without the family's knowledge and can lead to increased state surveillance, criminalization, and family separation—especially for Black, Latino, and Indigenous families. A mother seeking substance use treatment or a child needing behavioral support is too often pulled into another cycle of trauma and disconnection instead of care.
In partnership with OORU Collective Care, caregivers, youth, and educators will organize and co-create a community care & accountability plan for their community. They will participate in transformative justice discussions and activities to cultivate answers to questions like:
1
How do we build our personal and collective capacity to respond to trauma and support accountability in a transformational way?
2
How do we build effective and sustainable movements that are grounded in resilience and life-affirming power?
3
How do we shift power towards collective liberation?
Learn more about these questions and similar transformative justice concepts in
DESIGN
Facilitators
4
Community health &
education workers
Representative community health and education workers facilitate sessions that build capacity, foster personal development, offer emotional nourishment, and inspire creativity.
Co-designers
6-8th Grade Students
5
10
K-8 Educators
20
K-8 Caregivers
Youth, educators, and caregivers tackle specific aspects of the community care and accountability plan to answer questions like:
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What kinds of resources, relationships, or systems could help families show up for each other in meaningful, sustainable ways?
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How can educators respond to youth needs without punishment, and in ways that affirm families' dignity?
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How can we ease the burden on teachers and shift expectations for them to do it all?
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What would it look like to build strong, safe connections between families? How can we foster trust, mutual care and shared responsibility across communities?
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How do young people see their role in supporting each other and their communities?
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How should healthy, respectful relationships built on cultural wisdom look between direct service organizations and families?
Community Input
6-8th grade students, K-8 educators, and K-8 caregivers from a larger cross-section of the community will provide input on specific aspects of the design through a survey.