Focus the Nation is a national non-profit headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1999 by professor and economist, Eban Goodstein. We believe in the science of climate change and the opportunity it presents to rebuild American communities and US leadership at the local, national and international level.

We are driven by a fierce commitment to empower young people with the leadership, educational and civic engagement opportunities that will accelerate our transformation to a more just and prosperous clean energy future.

Here’s to Upstream Public Health - true pioneers in the Leftbank story.    They moved in last week amidst construction, anxious to dig in and do their good work.    On behalf of the rest of the Leftbank community,  welcome, guys!

in their words:

The Upstream Parable:

A crowd stands on a riverbank where water is raging. They try franticly to pluck out people being swept downstream. Many are missed and are swept away despite the crowd doing all they can to rescue them from this fate. Finally a scrappy group breaks off and tromps off upstream to see exactly why all the people are falling into the river. They identify the problem, think of a solution, and put it into action. The result:  People stop falling into the river, they are no longer at risk. In a nutshell, that’s public health policy at work.

Why We Work on Policy:

Oregon has people “falling into the river” every day. At Upstream, we’re working to ensure policy solutions are put in place that are effective and efficient at addressing such health risks — through prevention measures made available to all. Policy solutions are essential because they guarantee that everyone regardless of age, background, and location benefits, and ensures that future generations will be protected.

LEARN MORE HERE!

Upstream Public Health is a non-profit organization that promotes the health of all Oregonians by advocating for bold, innovative policies that will create communities where people can thrive. At Upstream, we look at the sources of today’s major health problems; identify creative, evidenced-based policy solutions that will address those root causes; and campaign to make them law by educating policy makers and the media about how our solutions will make people live longer and reduce future health care costs.

LEARN MORE HERE!