January 22, 2021 3:20 a.m.

On Thursday, Oregon Governor Kate delivered her State of the State address.

A release said it expanded on the vision she set forth in her 2021-23 budget to build back “…a more just and equitable Oregon in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, historic wildfires, and a long overdue clarion call for racial justice”.

Brown said, “We must recognize that going back to ‘the way things were’, will not move us forward”. Brown said every difficult turn of the past year has only proven that point, “…further exacerbating existing disparities for Oregon’s Black, Indigenous, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and Tribal communities”. Brown said the first step to creating opportunity “…is recognizing that racism is endemic to our systems, impacting every part of our culture and our economy. I am committed to ensuring that the world we build as we emerge from this last year is a more equitable one”.

The release said the speech highlighted key policy and budget initiatives focused on helping Oregon rebuild, including:

*Proposed investments to expand access to affordable health care

*Broadband expansion statewide to ensure that every single school across Oregon is connected to the internet

*Support to help communities create response plans and fire evacuation routes so they will be better equipped for future fire seasons

*More than $10 billion invested in K-12 schools and early education so that Oregon can close the opportunity gap and build an antiracist curriculum that is honest about the past

*$250 million in affordable housing, homelessness prevention and rental assistance

*Prioritizing criminal justice reform

A link to the State of the State address is posted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEJXKEld28&feature=youtu.be