Research and Publications
Accessible research you can use
The Ford Family Foundation generates original research that goes deep into issues important to the rural communities we serve. We invite you to download any of these reports and research briefs to use in your work.
Progress at Risk: An Update on Child Care in Rural Oregon
This updated report investigates the economic impact of state policies that affect rural children and their families, as well as the challenges of operating a financially viable child care business in rural Oregon.
Oregon by The Numbers 2024
Helping all of Oregon see all of Oregon
Wondering how your county fares in key measures such as child care, employment and food insecurity? Find out in Oregon by the Numbers — the Foundation’s yearly report that provides the essential data needed to tackle challenges in your community.
Pathways to Securing Rural Federal Funding
This report highlights the challenges rural communities and organizations experience when pursuing federal funding and includes recommendations for increasing access.
Mobilizing Oregon Communities to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
This report details the overall impact of Protect Our Children’s first seven years as a program of The Ford Family Foundation.
The Douglas County Infant Mental Health Project
Carefully nurtured relationships among a network of organizations have improved the coordination of services in the infant mental health community in Douglas County. Read the organizers’ playbook.
Supporting Rural Students in Oregon in High School and Beyond
This report explores gaps in postsecondary enrollment, persistence, transfer and completion outcomes between rural and urban students in Oregon. Summary briefs on male college Latinx college enrollment are also provided.
Supporting Transfer Student Success in Oregon
This collaborative research project presents examples of the positive role Oregon’s higher education institutions play in the state’s college transfer landscape.
Exploring How Rural Students in Oregon Make Decisions About Education and Training after High School
This study hears directly from rural students and the adults who support them about why and how rural high school students make decisions about life after high school and choose certain pathways.
Rural Community Building Evaluation Reports
How Philanthropy can “Go To Where The People Are”
This report summarizes key findings about how the Field Coordinator strategy has evolved to shape the Foundation’s philanthropic practice and culture.
Emerging from a long history of different strategies aimed at building rural capacity, the Field Coordinator role is unique in the field of philanthropy and the Foundation’s rural region.
Project Impact
This self-directed evaluation measures the impact of the Foundation’s rural community building work.
The Impact of Community Building on the Response of Rural Communities to COVID-19
How has community building enabled rural communities to respond to the pandemic? In June 2020, 15 rural communities partnered to explore this question through interviews and analysis.
Investing in community building brings additional dollars to rural communities
A study of three rural communities engaged in long-term, community-wide community building efforts shows that grant dollars invested in community building efforts pay off.
