Washington County Kids Records

Washington County Kids (WCK), an Oregon nonprofit organization whose "mission is to ensure access to quality out of school time programs that equip Washington County children for success," traces its roots to 2009. In that year, a group of concerned citizens began trying to find ways to fund the programming efforts of the Washington County Commission for Children and Families. As their organizational history statement noted: "In 2009 it had become apparent that the Commission did not have sufficient funds to address the Commission’s OST goals, so members of the task force decided to form a separate group outside the Commission structure. Key members included Katie Riley, Susan Bender Phelps, and Susan Stoltenberg. Susan Bender Phelps agreed to be the convener. The group initially called themselves the Children’s Opportunity Fund Initiative of Washington County or COFI and held monthly Steering Committee meetings that were open to the public."

WCK has had several names and affiliations. As noted above, it was first known as the Children's Opportunity Fund Initiative (COFI) in 2009; affiliated with the 501(3)(c) nonprofit "Impact Northwest" in 2011; renamed itself as the Washington County Kids Fund in 2016; formed its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the name Washington County Kids in 2018; and also formed a spinoff Political Action Committee under the name Friends of Washington County Kids in 2019. Katie Riley, a retired public health administrator and the wife of Oregon Senator Chuck Riley, became the chair/president of WCK in 2012, serving in that role for over a decade.

In addition to applying for grants and conducting private fundraising, the group attempted to obtain increased public funding for programs through initiatives, ballot measures and legislative bills. A partial list of their public funding projects includes:

- Children's Opportunity Fund Initiative (COFI), a proposed ballot initiative, 2011-2015

- Children's Levy, a proposed property tax, 2015-2016

- SB 123 Children's Special Districts legislation, 2017

- SB 1515 Children's Service Districts legislation, 2018

- SB 543 Children's Service Districts legislation, 2018-2019

- Washington County Kids Fund Levy, a proposed property tax, 2019-2020

- Children's Funding Project, 2020-2021

- SB 299 Children's Service Districts legislation, 2021

- SB 858 Children's Service Districts legislation, 2023

While stable public funding proved difficult to achieve, WCK succeeded in serving as a coordinator of the county's out of school programs and as a collaborative and educational hub for the county's service providers.