Monarch on 4th Offers Hope & Rebirth March 18, 2025 At the Monarch on 4th community hub in downtown Corvallis, every day is a celebration. Whether it’s a baby shower for a first-time mom recovering from addiction or a yoga party helping parents and infants develop new bonds, the welcoming space embraces every step of the journey through pregnancy, birth, and a baby’s first years. “Every single day there’s something new and it’s always fun and supportive,” said Miranda Tasker, Program Manager for Reconnections Counseling in Benton and Linn counties. Hers is one of many programs working together out of the converted home on 4th Street known as Monarch. The hub was created in May of 2024 to provide birth-oriented services in Linn and Benton counties. It’s a space where counselors, peer wellness specialists, and doulas can meet with clients; local organizations can hold meetings and classes; and pregnant people and families can receive food, clothing, diapers, and other essentials. More than 920 individuals came through the door in 2024 and there is a core of about 20 members in Tasker’s parenting and recovery group who participate five days a week. The partners working together within Monarch on 4th coalesced around a shared vision for supporting the pregnant and post-partum community, and assistance from the InterCommunity Health Network (IHN-CCO) Delivery System Transformation (DST) Committee has been a catalyst for their success. Connecting Services In 2020, Reconnections Counseling began piloting the Nurture Oregon program in Lincoln County, which offers intensive wraparound support and stigma-free care for pregnant and parenting people in recovery or experiencing substance use disorder (SUD). “We are truly working on whatever helps and promotes the health of that baby and parent together as one,” said Tasker. Many of their clients are houseless, so their team meets them where they are, providing essentials like food and shelter along with assistance with behavioral health, substance abuse, and parenting. According to a 2024 report from Nurture Oregon, nearly one in five (18%) of pregnant IHN-CCO members in Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties have diagnosed SUD, which is a major cause of pregnancy-related mortality. To help this demographic access assistance, a group of community partners began meeting together once a week to go over clients’ needs from health care to housing and finding the best path to providing support. “We meet with families early in pregnancy and connect them with a peer-wellness specialist, peer-support specialist, doula, and a counselor who get to be with them their entire pregnancy and year after birth,” said Tasker, who is a certified doula and a counselor. “Families with a history of substance use or mental health concerns thrive when they receive ongoing supports during this critical window of child and family development.” In 2022, Reconnections Counseling and the Community Doula Program applied for a DST grant to create Monarch on 4th and give the shared program a home that could meet the needs of people from a wide range of backgrounds. Reconnections Counseling and JUST Care are now the primary organizations providing services at Monarch on 4th. Out of the Cocoon A new program is coming in 2025 as the DST will fund the Monarch Easy Access Clinic, a mobile program that brings addiction treatment and behavioral health services to Benton and Lincoln counties. The clinic will offer prenatal checkups, addiction treatment medication and other services on the same days Reconnections recovery groups meet. Just like its namesake butterfly that migrates from Central America to North America each year, Monarch on 4th is a symbol of hope and rebirth. The logo speaks to their mission of reaching people who are experiencing the major transformation of new parenting. “So often, we are focused only on the baby. The monarch represents the birth of the mother, coming out of the cocoon,” Tasker said. “You started as one thing and now you’re somebody new after you’ve added children to your family.”
