Wednesday in Yamhill County, Governor-elect Tina Kotek launched her “One Oregon Listening Tour,” in which she will visit every county in Oregon within her first year in office.
For today’s kick off of the tour, Governor-elect Kotek and First Lady-elect Aimee Kotek Wilson participated in three small group conversations on mental health and addiction care, early learning, and housing and homelessness.
The day started with a tour of the Virginia Garcia McMinnville Clinic, which delivers primary care, dental, pharmacy, and integrated behavioral health care. Following the tour, Governor-elect Kotek convened a small roundtable discussion with leaders of Virginia Garcia to discuss what’s working and how the state can help improve access to behavioral health services.
Next, the Governor-elect and First Lady-elect visited the Head Start of Yamhill County Michael Eichman Center, a comprehensive early learning program that offers free preschool and services to qualifying families with children ages 0 to 5.
Finally, the Governor-elect convened a roundtable on affordable housing and homelessness for an in-depth conversation about how the state can help the community in Yamhill County build upon its efforts to address both the long-term lack of affordable housing and the immediate crisis of homelessness.
“The people we heard from today are doing the hard work every day to serve their community here in Yamhill County. Together, I know we can make real strides when it comes to affordable housing, behavioral health, and early learning,” Governor-elect Kotek said. “I’m looking forward to similar deep-dive conversations around the state and building the strong partnerships we need to solve Oregon’s toughest challenges.”
Source: Governor-elect Tina Kotek