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Multnomah County, OR’s Preschool for All: A November 2020 Ballot Measure Case Study

A case study about how campaign organizers in Multnomah County, OR, created a new voter-approved children's fund that will provide universal pre-K.

Multnomah County, OR’s Preschool for All: A November 2020 Ballot Measure Case Study

In 2018, two separate campaigns began efforts to create a publicly funded universal preschool program in Multnomah County, OR. One of the campaigns, Preschool for All, was established by Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson as an extension of a decade of community-led work to expand access to early childhood education. The other campaign, Universal Preschool Now, began as a grassroots movement following the closure of local community centers.1 Both campaigns had the same goal: to secure voter approval for a countywide universal preschool program funded by a tax on high-income earners. Although they initially began and operated separately, the two campaigns coalesced in August 2020 around shared goals and values and merged their efforts to support a single ballot measure. In November 2020, voters approved the measure to create the Multnomah County Preschool for All program funded by a new high-income earners’ tax currently projected to raise $160 million annually by 2026.

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