Movement Building Impact: Transforming Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Systems in Rural Oregon and Siskiyou County, California

Tuesday, August 12, 2025
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM

Protect Our Children is leading a transformative movement to prevent child sexual abuse in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. Launched by The Ford Family Foundation in 2015, our initiative focuses on increasing awareness about child sexual abuse and its long-term impacts, and empowering adults with the knowledge to prevent, recognize, and respond effectively. With a network of 19 partners, including 10 child advocacy centers, we have trained over 50,000 adults using approved tools and methods. Our approach has evolved from individual training to a comprehensive field-building strategy. We have created a robust statewide network of nonprofits and community facilitators, addressing emerging needs and enhancing capacity in underserved areas. In 2025, we co-designed a project toolkit and a theory of change to guide the next phase of our collective efforts. A developmental evaluation by the University of Oregon’s Center for Childhood Safety and Wellbeing (CSAW) demonstrates positive project impact. Longitudinal results show significant improvements in knowledge, attitudes, mindsets and prevention action taking. Protect Our Children and its evaluation partnership has served as a prevention catalyst in Oregon, fostering enthusiasm, community support, and a now well establishd and robust child sexual abuse prevention network. In this presentation we will emphasize insights for impact, including how we’ve built systems for sustainability, partnered with philanthropy and evaluators, and our messaging/framing for community engagement. Participants will learn 1) strategies for building a vibrant learning community and aligned child sexual abuse prevention network, 2) inspirational process and outcome data and how it is being leveraged for prevention promotion, board development, and fundraising, and 3) our efforts to engage rural Oregon and Siskiyou County, CA residents and Spanish speaking individuals in abuse prevention conversations, trainings, and action-taking. Attendees will feel inspired by the power of child sexual abuse prevention movement building in rural Oregon, will draw from our lessons learned for appliciation in their own communities, and will leave with outcome evaluation data that will be useful for their program and board development, strategic planning, and fundraising.