(Kara Tachikawa and Tim Rusk | Photo Courtesy of MountainStar)
Kara Tachikawa is the new executive director of MountainStar Family Relief Nursery. A Central Oregon native, she has been advocating for our community’s children for over seven years. Tachikawa shares, “I believe all babies, toddlers and preschoolers deserve a strong start and that we have a collective obligation to step forward and help when families face big challenges such as unstable housing, poverty, intimate partner violence and substance abuse issues. I am thrilled to lead MountainStar’s highly qualified and caring staff in providing trauma-informed, therapeutic services that show documented success at keeping children safe and increasing family resiliency.”
Tachikawa takes over leadership from MountainStar’s founding executive director, Tim Rusk. Rusk led MountainStar’s child abuse program for over 19 years. Under his leadership, MountainStar started by serving 34 babies and toddlers in its first year and expanded services across Central Oregon to four sites with eight classrooms. This year, MountainStar celebrates a 20-year anniversary having served over 5,000 children and 20,000 of their family members. Services include early childhood classes, home visiting and parent support including help with diapers and food boxes.
Looking forward, MountainStar remains committed to Central Oregon’s most vulnerable families. “We will continue to meet the needs of our community with a particular focus on rural areas to ensure families have equitable access to resources and community support,” says Tachikawa. “We are committed to meeting families where they are and providing strengths-based, trauma informed services to keep our community’s babies and toddlers safe.”
MountainStar depends on community investment to serve over 300 children and their families each year. Your support makes a difference every day to children in our program. Thank you for being our partner in child abuse and neglect prevention in Central Oregon.
