Eugene Area
Eugene, Coburg, and Surrounding Areas
Co-Chairs: Angela Albin and Caroline Madigan
The Eugene regional leadership team faces the challenges – and advantages – of working where more than half the population of Lane County lives. After an extensive asset mapping and prevention planning process, five strategies were chosen to be implemented in a three-phase process. This means building partnerships with community members, creating work groups for each strategy, and a lot of fundraising! With the large and diverse population of the region, issues of equity and inclusion are constantly a priority. The Eugene team is small but energetic – and always looking at new ways to grow.
Get in Touch with the Eugene Team
Strategies in Eugene
Roots of Empathy
This classroom-based program cultivates empathy in children in order to build more caring, peaceful, and civil societies. Through interactions with an infant and caregiver, and with the guidance of a Roots of Empathy Instructor, children learn to identify and understand the feelings of the baby, then their own feelings and those of others. 90by30 has partnered with Roots of Empathy to bring this program to 50 first- and second-grade classrooms in Lane County.
Parent Cafés
The Parent Café program is a nationally recognized peer-to-peer learning process to keep children safe and families strong. Parents and caregivers create safe spaces to explore their strengths and learn from themselves and each other how to use the Strengthening Families Protective Factors with their loved ones. Child care is provided.
Safe Families for Children
Safe Families is a national, evidence-based program that aims to reduce child abuse by surrounding families in crisis with a caring, compassionate community. Safe Families is implemented locally by CAFA (Christians As Family Advocates), and engages faith communities to help meet the needs of vulnerable families. Through dedicated, trained volunteers, Safe Families temporarily hosts children in homes across Lane County, and provides a network of support to families in crisis while they get back on their feet.
What’s Next
Next up for Eugene is an expanded partnership with Safe Families for Children, a faith-based program that aims to keep children out of foster care by providing respite care to families in crisis, to the region. The team is also working on a Community Engagement Project to capitalize on the “get involved” message of K(no)w More and facilitate outreach to everyone in the Eugene community. The Welcome Baby program is also on the agenda for Eugene.
How You Can Get Involved in Eugene
- Volunteer as a Roots of Empathy Instructor or Family
- Join the Regional Leadership Team
- Join a workgroup for a program like Parent Cafés or an event like Child Abuse Prevention Month
- Volunteer with Safe Families for Children
- Commit to be a member of 5,000 Strong
