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MountainStar
Dear Central Oregon, MountainStar is incredibly grateful for our community’s commitment to Central Oregon children, standing with us and declaring that every child deserves the best start possible. And we are grateful for your willingness to learn and grow with a shared goal of helping our community thrive. In that spirit, let’s talk about Community Resilience. Adversities experienced during early childhood can have lifelong and often multigenerational outcomes. We balance this information with the important caveat that a traumatic start to a child’s life does not eliminate hope for their future. MountainStar’s services provide children and families with an on-ramp to a positive path forward, one that includes resources and supports that help families heal and thrive. When we think about families dealing with an average of 16 family stressors – like extreme poverty, mental illness, food insecurities, or a history of family violence – imagine the additional daily stress when experiencing housing instability, receiving below living wages, or challenges in accessing health care. Strengthening families and keeping kids safe is the work MountainStar does every day, and as a community member, you too play an important role in keeping kids safe and increasing our community’s resilience. A resilient community focuses on the root causes of trauma and creates systems and supports which allow for healing. Learning about and supporting policies that break down barriers on the community-wide level is one of the first action steps to reducing stress on vulnerable families. If that feels daunting, consider getting to know your neighbors and offering support when they are struggling. By supporting MountainStar and other nonprofits that meet critical needs, you are already making a difference and increasing our community’s resilience every day. Thank you for being a voice for families who are pushed to the margins of our community. Together we will continue to build resilience with children, families, and our community. In partnership, Kara Tachikawa, Executive Director, MountainStar Family Relief Nursery