Brief History
Community Health Partnership was established in December 1998 through the start-up efforts of Billi Odegaard, retired Director of the Multnomah County Health Department, Paul Cosgrove, JD and Tom Engle, RN, Public Health Administrator and member of the Conference of Local Health Officials. The fledgling organization, formerly called Friends of Public Health, was founded to “improve the health of Oregonians through support and advocacy of public health activities.”
Over the course of its first year, Friends of Public Health was approved as a 501-c-3 not-for-profit organization, had an official public debut – A Gathering of Friends raising $25,000 for the organization – and merged with Project Health, a local health charity, bringing a $2,000,000 endowment to the newly formed organization. Subsequently, the Laurence R. Foster Memorial Scholarship fund, named after the state’s late Health Officer, found a natural home within the organization and also merged with Friends.
Between 2000 and 2003, Friends of Public Health developed its Board of Directors, implemented its core programs, and broadened its mission to include public policy and the introduction of strategic focus projects which identify and address population-based issues of current public health significance. In 2003, the Board of Directors identified Prevention of Youth Obesity as its first strategic focus. Additionally, as part of its strategic evolution, Friends of Public Health changed its name to Community Health Partnership to reflect the organization’s commitment to partnering with all aspects of the community to improve the health of Oregonians.
Based upon the recommendation of many Oregon public health stakeholders (i.e., state and local public health officials, researchers and legislators), CHP initiated the development of Oregon’s Public Health Institute in October 2004. CHP joined 19 other states having Public Health Institutes as a member of the National Network of Public Health Institutes.
