Upstream is a national, fast-growing nonprofit that is working to expand economic opportunity and mobility by reducing unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. We partner with states to provide training and technical assistance to health centers to ensure all women can obtain the effective birth control method of their choice. We believe our plan has the potential to deliver one of the great public health and opportunity wins of our time.
We are working to ensure that every woman – regardless of where they live, income, or insurance status – has the ability to choose which birth control method is most effective for her, allowing her to decide when and if to have children and giving her more control over her economic future. Upstream’s goal is to work with on-the-ground health centers to expand the full range of reproductive care to over 1 million women by 2023, empowering women to decide when and if they want to become pregnant, and improving economic and health outcomes for parents, children, and society.
We are already making strides in states across the country. In 2016, we launched our first statewide initiative in Delaware. Since then we have trained clinics that reach almost 80 percent of women in the state. We have also collaborated with health centers in Texas, Arizona, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Over half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and most of these occur to women who are using a method of contraception that is not effective for them. Many health centers have a number of barriers that make it difficult for women to easily access the most effective methods of contraception. Upstream provides customized training and technical assistance to ensure that health providers of all kinds (publicly supported health centers, hospitals, and private providers), can offer their patients the full range of contraceptive methods. Upstream has already made significant progress in its first statewide project in Delaware, developed with the full and visible support of former Delaware Governor Jack Markell. We believe we have the potential to deliver one of the great public health and opportunity wins of our time.