Five More Years!

On May 21st, Portland voters overwhelmingly passed Measure 26-150, the renewal of the Portland Children’s Levy. With that, the Levy will continue to support programs that keep kids safe, successful and healthy for another five years.

Thank you to everyone who supported or endorsed the campaign, and to the voters who proved that Portland kids are still a priority.

Vote YES for Portland’s Children -

Renew the Portland Children’s Levy

The Portland Children’s Levy was created by city voters in 2002 and overwhelmingly renewed in Fall 2008 for an additional five years.

In the 10 years since voters first approved the Portland Children’s Levy, nearly $100 million has been invested in over 50 organizations helping ensure that Portland’s kids are safe, healthy and successful.

The Levy has done that by investing in proven, cost-effective programs in four areas:

• Child abuse prevention and intervention;
• Early education programs to help children arrive to school ready to learn;
• Mentoring and after school programs that provide safe and constructive after school alternatives for children and
• Programs to help children in foster care succeed.

The new levy will add one additional focus that can no longer be ignored:  child hunger, which has a devastating impact on every aspect of a child’s development. The Oregon Food Bank reports that 14,000 Portland children eat from emergency food boxes each month. We will look at partnering with proven programs, such as Meals on Wheels, to expand their capabilities to provide innovative solutions to child hunger.

 

The Portland Children’s Levy is also extremely efficient and accountable in its implementation:

• We invest only in programs that have a proven track record that help children succeed
• We have an all-volunteer allocation committee that oversees our program.
• We conduct annual audits and
• We keep administrative expenses to 5%, which means 95 cents on the dollar go directly to fund programs.

 

The Portland Children’s Levy is a reflection of our values as a community and it makes a real difference for our kids and our future. Your support means:

• Children enter kindergarten ready to learn
• Students are safe in engaging after-school programs
• Kids of all ages have mentors to keep them on track
• Parents are getting help for stress and trauma
• Families are seeing a reduction in home violence
• Children in foster care have a greater chance of success
• Parents can attend school and work with the help of affordable, quality childcare