Who We Are

OPHI sees a world where vibrant health is a reality for all Oregonians. We see tomorrow’s health today. Our future depends on it.

Health is fundamental to quality of life. It touches every aspect of our daily experience in the places we live, work, learn and play. Countless choices present opportunities that collectively shape our health. OPHI strategies work to put healthy choices within reach of all Oregonians.

A member of the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), OPHI is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit that leads Oregon’s movement for a sustainable public health agenda. We give Oregon’s public health system and its workforce an independent voice, and place cutting-edge research into the hands of policymakers and practitioners where it can do the most good.

Together, we make Oregon a place where the healthy choice is also the easy choice. We work to build a world where all Oregonians have equal opportunity for a life of optimal health.


OPHI’s Strategic Direction


OPHI Milestones

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2102

  •  OPHI became the home of Wellness@Work, a movement launched in 2011 by partners in the public and private sector. The effort engages employers of all sizes and types to create a culture of health at work. 

  • HEAL Cities Campaign was launched statewide as a partnership with League of Oregon Cities that engages local elected officials and decision makers in championing policy and planning solutions to promote healthy eating and active living. 

  • The Portland Plan was adopted by City Council and includes goals, objectives and action steps to achieve health and equity for the city. OPHI provided technical support to city planners and convened diverse stakeholders to impact the process and final Plan.

  • OPHI and partners organized Healthy People Healthy Places statewide convergence meeting focused on “Health and Agriculture, Opportunities at the Intersection.”

2011

  • Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon supports more than 15 emerging local breastfeeding coalitions across the state engaged in taking action in their communities to promote, support and protect breastfeeding. 

  • OPHI provides leadership and support to enact the strongest state chain restaurant menu labeling law in the US. Similar legislation is adopted in 2012 at the federal level. 

  • Under OPHI leadership, Portland Parks and Recreation adopts nutrition standards for recreation centers, based on nutrition standards in schools. Waterfront Blues Festival pilots healthier food offerings. 

2010

  • To mark our tenth anniversary, we rebranded ourselves with a new name and a new look. The vision that was but a dream ten years ago is now Oregon Public Health Institute. 
  • OPHI and partners conducted the Right from the Start Childcare Assessment with all licensed child care providers in Multnomah County, OR. The findings drive improvements in the child care system on evidence-based strategies for healthy child care. 
  • OPHI launched our Health Impact Assessment Initiative that involves leading HIA projects and providing training and technical assistance to emerging HIA practitioners in Oregon and throughout the country.

2009

  • Oregon’s leading health insurers join CHP: OPHI to form Oregon Health Insurers Partnering for Prevention (OHIPP), the nation’s first collaborative obesity prevention effort between health plans and public health policy advocates.

  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly Food Stamps) best practices and policy recommendations draw from expertise across sectors to break the cycle of hunger, poor nutrition and obesity in Oregon.

2008

  • CHP: OPHI and partners conducted the first Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in the region. 

  • Healthy Active Lents initiative celebrates 5 years of working with residents, community-based organizations and local agencies to identify and implement a healthy, active vision for Southeast Portland’s Lents community. 

2007

  • Oregon House Bill 2650: Heathy Foods for Healthy Students, bans junk food, sugar-sweetened beverages and soda and established the toughest K-12 school nutrition standards in the nation.
  • CHP: OPHI provides testimony to support grassroots efforts to pass Oregon’s landmark law that gives breastfeeding mothers the right to unpaid breaks at work to express milk in a clean, private space. This law paves the way for federal legislation in 2010.
  • Physical Education for All (PEAK) Coalition restores physical education to Oregon K-12 public schools with state required PE curriculum benchmarks. PEAK reconstitutes in June 2010 to keep PE in Portland K-8 Public Schools.

2006

  • CHP: OPHI convenes public health agencies from across the state in the first Public Health Alignment Workgroup to create a unified health policy agenda for each subsequent state legislative session.

  • CHP: OPHI gives testimony in the Oregon State Legislature to bring attention to the childhood obesity epidemic. This lays groundwork for passage of Oregon House Bill 2650 in 2007, and federal legislation in 2010.

  • CHP: OPHI doubles the reach of its Special Needs Grants from 9 to 18 counties in Oregon.

2005

  • Community Health Partnership joins the National Network of Public Health Institutes and is renamed Community Health Partnership: Oregon’s Public Health Institute.

  • CHP: OPHI publishes first investigative report in the nation on soda contracts in K-12 public schools. The report attracts coverage in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

2004

  • CHP: OPHI publishes first investigative report in the nation on soda contracts in K-12 public schools. The report attracts coverage in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

  • OPHI initiated healthy-community planning projects in outer southeast Portland that piloted effective integration of health policy into urban planning and development. These practices are now part of Portland’s Comprehensive City Plan. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Northwest Health Foundation provided grants to support these projects.

2003

  • Friends of Public Health is renamed Community Health Partnership.

  • Childhood obesity prevention becomes the stated CHP strategic initiative.

1999

  • Friends of Public Health merges with Project Health, receives a $2 million endowment and launches funding initiatives to cultivate and support Oregon’s public health workforce.

  • The Laurence R. Foster Memorial Fund, an educational scholarship to promote diversity in the public health workforce, is folded into Friends of Public Health.

  • Friends of Public Health establishes Special Needs Grants to help public health workers across Oregon address urgent client needs.

  • Friends of Public Health inaugurates an annual Public Health Genius Award to celebrate outstanding individual achievement in the field.

1998

  • Billi Odegaard founds Friends of Public Health.