Throughout the month of September, our eight Portland locations are raising money to fight obesity and promote nutrition in Portland schools and beyond. At Whole Foods Market, we know that the more kids feel connected to their food – and the more curious they become about how things grow and taste – the more willing they are to try new and healthy foods. That’s why we created the Whole Kids Foundation® to support kids, families and schools in making more empowered, nutritious food choices.

To date, the Whole Kids Foundation has provided 68 school garden grants – a total of $136,000 – to public and private schools in Oregon. Across all stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., our impact includes:

• Over 4,000,000 kids choosing vegetables and fruits to nourish their bodies and minds
• 4,442 salad bars installed in schools
• 3,625 school gardens built
• 10,000+ teachers trained through the Healthy Teachers Program
• $18,300,916 raised through Team Members, customers, suppliers and sales

Why School Gardens

Edible gardens are powerful, multi-faceted learning spaces that engage every sense and are effective for all learning styles. Not only do learning gardens get kids eating more vegetables, they have been shown to boost memory and increase school attendance and academic performance. By investing in gardens, we’re transforming the next generation’s eating habits.

How to Get Involved

• Contribute to the Whole Kids Foundation throughout September by making a donation at one of our store registers
• Purchase products from our supporting vendors, and a percentage of sales will benefit the Whole Kids Foundation
• Encourage your local school to apply for one of the following Whole Kids Foundation programs:
  
• School Garden grant
• Extended Learning grant
• Honey Bee grant
• Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools grant
• Healthy Teachers classes

How to Apply

The 2016 application period runs September 1 through October 31, and notifications will be sent on February 15, 2017. Contact your school administrator to suggest they apply. For more information visit: https://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/.

About the Whole Kids Foundation

The Whole Kids Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Whole Foods Market, with both sharing the same values, principles, expertise and standards for quality ingredients and nutrition. 

Adventist Health signs letter of intent to join OHSU Partners

Portland, Ore. – August 9, 2016 – Adventist Health, OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) and OHSU Partners have signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) to pursue an affiliation.  If a final agreement is reached, the affiliation would integrate Adventist Health’s Portland-area clinical enterprise with OHSU’s clinical enterprise, under the direction of OHSU Partners. The parties to the LOI will now conduct due diligence with the intention of reaching a final agreement by the end of the year.

OHSU Partners is a management company that oversees and directs the clinical programs and services of Salem Health, OHSU Healthcare and Tuality Healthcare as an integrated system. Salem Health and OHSU created the company and affiliation model in 2015. As a founding member of OHSU Partners, Salem Health was integral to affiliation discussions and approved this LOI.

“Our approach is attractive because it retains each organization’s strengths, while improving our collective ability to improve outcomes and value for patients,” said OHSU President Dr. Joe Robertson. “Adventist Health is known for its commitment to total patient wellness and would add great value to our growing system.”

Adventist Health Portland brings a health care network consisting of a 302-bed medical center, 34 medical clinics and home care and hospice services in the Portland/Vancouver metro area.

“We are excited to partner with innovative and respected organizations that are committed to quality care in our community. The fact that this affiliation enhances the complementary mission and focus of each partner hospital ensures that the highest quality medical and lifestyle approaches to health care are available to everyone,” said Joyce Newmyer, president of the Pacific Northwest Region of Adventist Health and Adventist Medical Center. “Our medical staff is thrilled to strengthen their relationships with the team at OHSU, bringing their research and best practices to patients in our local communities.”

Under the LOI, Adventist Health in Portland would become a part of the OHSU Partners system. A local site executive, selected by Adventist Health and OHSU Partners, will manage the Adventist Health Portland operations.

“Having a common vision for serving Oregonians and a shared bottom line that incentivizes collaboration over competition distinguishes OHSU Partners from other models,” said Peter Rapp, CEO of OHSU Partners. “The affiliates continue to own their separate assets, but the goal is to create an integrated delivery system with scale, resources, coordination and expertise, to exceed what the separate organizations could accomplish independently.”

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About OHSU Partners
OHSU Partners is a company that strategically manages the clinical enterprises of Salem Health, OHSU and Tuality Healthcare. In 2015, Salem Health and OHSU created an integrated system managed by OHSU Partners, governed by the boards of Salem Health and OHSU, and intended to grow with new affiliations. The shared vision is to support a world-class, value-based healthcare system that combines the strengths of an academic health center with the best of community-based care. Under the strategic direction of OHSU Partners, the integrated system will expand access to care, reduce costs, and improve patient outcomes for Oregonians.

About Adventist Health
Adventist Health—Portland is a faith-based, not-for-profit health care network consisting of a 302-bed medical center, 34 medical clinics and home care and hospice services in the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Adventist Medical Center is ranked in the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide for patient safety.  We are part of the Adventist Health enterprise, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Our workforce of 32,700 includes more than 23,400 employees; nearly 5,000 medical staff physicians; and 4,300 volunteers. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides compassionate care in 19 hospitals, more than 260 clinics (hospital-based, rural health and physician clinics), 15 home care agencies, seven hospice agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers. Adventist Health ranked #10 in Becker's list of the largest nonprofit hospital systems in the U.S. for 2015.

About Salem Health
Salem Health — an OHSU Partner — offers exceptional care to people in and around Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley. It is comprised of hospitals in Salem and Dallas, a medical group of primary and specialty care providers, plus other affiliated services. For the second consecutive year, the hospital in Salem received the prestigious 2016 Truven Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals, placing it among the nation’s highest performing hospitals. “Like” us on www.facebook.com/salemhealth; follow us on Twitter: @salemhealth; and view us at www.youtube.com/salemhealth.

About OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University is the state’s only public academic health center. As one of Oregon’s largest employers with more than 15,000 employees, OHSU’s size contributes to its ability to provide many services and community support not found anywhere else in the state. It serves patients throughout the region. It operates two hospitals. OHSU Hospital is a Level 1 trauma center that is a key provider of complex medical care in Oregon. OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital is nationally recognized across multiple pediatric specialties. OHSU is a conduit for learning for more than 4,400 students and trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach programs that bring health and education services to each county in the state.

For more information, please contact:
Kristi Spurgeon Johnson
Director of Marketing
Adventist Health – Portland
(o) 503-251-6162  (m) 509-540-4727

Beth Heinrich
AVP, Strategic Communications
OHSU
(o) 503-494-0193 (m) 503-501-6619

Please join us for a fundraising luncheon Wednesday, May 25^th from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm at the Multnomah Athletic Club located at 1849 SW Salmon Street, Portland.  This is a great way to help those with intellectual disabilities progress with their lives.  You would be amazed to see the great improvements in the everyday lives of those that need our support.  Please consider attending this great event that will impact lives.  Complimentary parking in garage.  Valet parking is available.  Please RSVP by Friday, May 20^th to Lindsay at 503-489-6565 or lindsaym@alsoweb.org 

Here’s our link to our website

http://www.alsoweb.org/event/also-fundraising-luncheon/

You can also check out our facebook invite, too!

In honor of April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month, we’ve compiled a list of shocking facts that will convince even the most stubborn of drivers to put their cellphones down while driving. Did you know…

- Drivers who text while behind the wheel are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than a non-distracted driver?

- Oregon is at the top of the list for U.S. motor vehicle deaths, according to the National Safety Council, with an almost eight percent increase in 2015 – marking the largest increase in 50 years?

- Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds; at 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of a football field-blindfolded?

- A recent study has equated texting on a cell phone equivalent to driving drunk? 

To save lives and prevent injuries, law enforcement agencies will be on the road this month to issue warnings, citations or make arrests during traffic stops. So, make sure you throw your phone in the back seat, or place it on silent in the glove box and choose to stay focused on the road. We encourage all our clients to take the pledge to stop cellphone use while driving, click on this link to pledge today!

Every Portland elementary school now has an arts teacher, thanks to the arts tax

Find stories about the impact of the tax online in April at #pdxlovesart

In November 2012, 63% of Portland voters overwhelmingly passed Ballot Measure 26-146 to create the Arts Education & Access Fund, now known as the “arts tax.” The tax directly funds 72 K-5, music, dance and visual art teachers in the city’s six school districts: Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Reynolds and Riverdale School Districts and Portland Public Schools. Thanks to the $35 income tax, every elementary school in the City of Portland currently has at least one art, music or dance teacher on staff.

“The arts tax has nearly tripled the number of elementary arts teachers in Portland and we’re so proud of this early success. On that score, Portlanders got what they voted for,” said Eloise Damrosch, executive director of the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). “Cities all over the nation are eager to replicate this sustainable funding stream for arts education.”

Arts Tax by the Numbers

• In the 2012-13 school year – before Portland districts began receiving arts tax funds – City of Portland elementary schools had 31 arts teachers. By 2015-16, the total number of K-5 arts teachers has increased to 91.
• Ballot Measure 26-146 ensures one arts teacher for every 500 students. As of 2015-16, districts have beat that promise, providing one arts teacher for every 398 students across the City.

• Portland Public Schools has more than quadrupled its number of elementary arts teachers, jumping from 15 teachers in 2012-13 to 64 in 2015-16.

• A total of $6,820,136 in arts tax funding went to Portland elementary schools in 2015-16. Broken down by district, total allocations are:

In addition to the arts tax dollars funneled to school districts for teacher salaries, $139,000 of the fund goes to RACC for arts education coordination expenses. RACC now offers professional development workshops for music and arts teachers hired through the arts tax, at no cost to districts. This training helps arts teachers connect their work to Common Core State Standards, and collaborate with colleagues in their buildings. RACC is also building new ways to connect the cultural resources of Portland to local schools.

The remaining dollars raised through the tax funds much-needed general operating expenses for local arts organizations, and projects that increase access to the arts for underrepresented communities. As tax collections increase, RACC will allocate additional funds to these causes.

The arts tax is due Monday, April 18 for City of Portland income earners at bit.ly/pdxlovesart. Read more about the arts tax at http://bit.ly/ArtsTaxFAQ.

Stories about the impact of arts tax-funded teachers can be found online throughout the month of April at #pdxlovesart.

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through Work for Art, a workplace giving program; convenes forums, networking events and other community gatherings; provides workshops and other forms of technical assistance for artists; and oversees a program to integrate arts and culture into the standard curriculum in public schools through The Right Brain Initiative. RACC values a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences and is working to build a community in which everyone can participate in culture, creativity and the arts.

PHOTO CAPTION: Before the arts tax, Sitton Elementary in St. Johns didn't have a full-time arts specialist. Now, students receive weekly instruction from art teacher Carlos Baca.   

This press release can be found online at http://bit.ly/1PQCr2E.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Mary Bauer, Communications Associate
Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC)
411 NW Park, Suite 101, Portland, OR 97209   
503.823.5426  racc.org | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
mbauer@racc.org