FFO Wins OPHA’s 2014 “Policy Champion” Award

November 3, 2014

opha_greenlogoWe’re very proud to win this award presented by the Oregon Public Health Association this fall.  The award is for “a person or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to advancing public health policy in Oregon.”  While we are thrilled to accept, we want to also recognize, in turn, the many partners in our sick days coalition who were right there by our side.  We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without them.

Here is OPHA’s explanation of our winning the award:

Family Forward Oregon’s work on Paid Sick Days in Oregon is a true measure of their dedication to strong public health policy—the kind of policy work that targets the health of individuals and communities by shifting responsibility for creating healthy environments for Oregonians onto the shoulders of institutions and systems, alleviating the inequitable burden on individuals.

We know that a shocking 48% of private-sector workers in Oregon and 80% of low-wage workers nationally have no paid sick days from their job. Workers who currently don’t earn sick time are heavily concentrated in jobs that require a high level of interaction with the public, and when those workers feel compelled to come to work sick, it’s all of our health that’s at risk. In 2013, the American Public Health Association named support for paid sick leave and other family leave policies chief among their policy statements.

Paid sick time is prevention, and it is about the public’s health. Family Forward Oregon is on the leading edge of these efforts in Oregon, innovating ways to bring our state in line with other pioneering states, and our nation in line with nearly every other developed country in the world. This year, in particular, has been a hugely successful one for FFO’s work on public health policy in Oregon and the organizations key achievements include the following:

  • Family Forward Oregon has led and won successful public health policy campaigns, from formative stages all the way through implementation and early evaluation.
  • Family Forward Oregon has successfully engaged a broad range of stakeholders in their policy advocacy, including strong representation from the public health community.
  • Family Forward Oregon consistently demonstrates a deep commitment to social justice in their policy advocacy: a core public health value.