Want to learn more about multigen?

The multigen approach keeps families at the center and focuses on things they need to thrive. The Oregon approach relies on learning from the people closest to the issue. This is key to coming up with solutions that work.

What do Oregon families need to thrive?

Health and wellness ― includes being able to manage physical, dental, mental and behavioral health; personal hygiene; adequate sleep and healthy food.

Income and financial assets ― make up a stable income that may include earnings, child support, Social Security benefits, retirement income, unemployment benefits, other financial assets and/or credit.

Safe and stable housing ― means having a stable^* residence that provides safe^✝ space for people to sleep, prepare food, restore or care for themselves, wash and have protection from the weather.

Sustainable career pathways ― identify and develop each person's dependable strengths so they secure work that can be counted on to provide family supporting wages and benefits.

Nurturing learning environments ― include formal and informal learning environments (schools, early learning programs, child care and after-school programs, community classes, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, online learning, etc.) that support people's healthy growth and development; and provide guidance to help people set and achieve their goals.

Social networks and assets ― include safe and helpful connections to people, information and resources; they also include opportunities to participate in their communities in ways that both give and receive support.

Safety ― relies on community members' freedom from emotional, mental, psychological, physical, sexual, financial and spiritual harm or violence. This freedom promotes personal choice.

Oregon multigen principles

These principles guide all multigenerational programs, policies and strategies. Oregon adapted them from principles other states and the national 2Gen consulting organization, Ascend, created.

Principle 1: Build trust and share power with families

This principle is grounded in the concept of “human-centered design,” which means:

• Believing all problems — even the seemingly intractable ones such as poverty, gender equality and clean water — are solvable.
• The people who face those problems every day are the ones who hold the key to their answer.
• Partnering in a good-faith effort to improve things, keeping the needs and desires of the people and households we serve at the center of our work, and making sure the solutions come from and include the community.

Principle 2: Establish and sustain equity

The multigenerational approach to reducing poverty always centers equity in its programs, policies and strategies. Oregon’s approach aligns government’s and communities’ efforts and resources so all Oregonians can thrive. The approach engages communities to identify and respond to evidence of inequities in access and outcomes for all people.

Principle 3: Align and unify efforts for collective impact

Practicing collective impact means individuals, families, organizations and communities come together to identify common goals, continuously communicate, and create shared measurements and activities. A multigenerational approach also aligns with the collective impact model, which brings key stakeholders together to support a common set of measurable goals. We can strengthen collective impact efforts by taking a multigen approach.

Principle 4: Track and demonstrate results at the person, family and community level

It is important to measure outcomes for our participants across all generations. A multigenerational approach partners with communities to identify commonly held, strengths-based, culturally specific indicators to determine whether participants can meet their needs and thrive. This requires collecting quality indicator data on a regular basis to learn when it’s working and when adjustments need to be made.

Principle 5: Use innovation, evidence and insights to improve participant outcomes

Multigenerational approaches create feedback loops to inform learning communities that include participants, potential participants and community partners with a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and lived experience to:

• Consistently monitor participant outcomes,
• Endorse existing policies, practices and funding or call for changes, and
• Make any adjustments needed to get the desired outcomes.

If outcomes indicate change is needed, the learning community will review relevant data and insights from the community to determine whether to recommend adjustments or creation of something new.

* Housing stability means affordable (being able to pay rent consistently; a housing cost burden of less than 30% of income for housing and utilities), non-temporary shelter compatible with daily-life routines that does not result in overcrowding, frequent moves or evictions.

† Safe housing includes conditions that are free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation and harm; allows safe preparation of food; provides access to water and toilets for health and hygiene; has adequate heating/cooling; and does not expose people to health and safety risks such as rodents/vermin, water leakage or mold, exposed electrical wiring, asbestos, or lead exposure.