Coalition of Slavic & Eastern European Organizations
Community leadership for health, belonging, and opportunity.
COSEEO is a partnership platform for culturally specific nonprofits serving Oregon's Slavic, Eastern European, and Central Asian communities through advocacy, shared resources, multilingual education, and community-led projects.
Vision
A stronger Oregon where immigrant and refugee communities shape the systems that serve them.
The coalition was formed to make immigration and integration easier for community members, represent Slavic, Eastern European, and Central Asian communities in social and healthcare systems, and build durable partnerships with public agencies, nonprofits, private organizations, and collaborative groups.
Members share resources, support one another, cooperate on projects, advocate for systemic change, and create culturally specific spaces where trust can grow.
Community context
Deep roots, many languages, shared action.
COSEEO serves a diverse community that includes Ukrainian, Romanian, Armenian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek, Latvian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, and many more identities.
Community in action
The coalition gathers people around learning, care, and shared leadership.
COSEEO's work shows up in planning rooms, public forums, small-group workshops, healing spaces, and community celebrations where people can learn from one another and build trust across organizations.
View the photo gallery
Recent projects, 2023-2026
Projects built around trust and access.
Community Health Improvement Plan
COSEEO strengthened coalition identity, bylaws, leadership structure, bi-weekly collaboration, mental health provider coordination, CHW roundtables, healing spaces, and culturally specific workshops.
- Ukrainian-language women's support workshop with 35 participants
- Anxiety-focused mental health workshop with 38 participants
- 90-hour CHW Popular Education Training with 18 graduates
Mental Health for All
Coalition-wide data gathering in six languages explored stigma, insurance literacy, provider preferences, domestic and sexual violence experiences, parenting, and youth needs.
Read the mental health reportColon Cancer Screening
With OHSU Knight Cancer Institute support, bilingual CHWs led focus groups and education for adults 40+, reaching 70+ participants and 10+ community leaders.
Business Bootcamp
An eight-week Russian and English initiative helped adults and youth learn business planning, customer discovery, branding, legal foundations, and marketing basics.
Vaccination Outreach
Russian and Ukrainian CHWs worked with families, schools, churches, health professionals, Slavic media, and STEM Kids Clubs to answer questions in trusted settings.
Workforce Development
Popular Education sessions built communication, facilitation, peer support, advocacy, mental health awareness, and leadership skills in culturally specific spaces.
Coalition history
From training cohort to coordinated advocacy.
A culturally specific Community Health Worker training created a lasting network that began planning measles immunization outreach.
The group formalized as the Slavic & Eastern European Coalition and pivoted to COVID-19 response, multilingual materials, outreach events, and vaccine clinics.
COSEEO supported newly arriving Ukrainian refugees, finalized mission and vision work, and hosted mental health roundtables.
The coalition adopted formal governance, expanded health initiatives, trained CHWs, and added new capacity for creative equity work.
Six organizations
A coalition of culturally specific service, advocacy, and community leadership.
IRCO Slavic & Eastern European Center
Builds belonging, leadership, and culturally responsive support for Slavic and Eastern European communities through IRCO's multilingual community center model.
Visit partnerLutheran Community Services NW
Refugees Northwest helps refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers rebuild their lives through trauma-informed support, asylum assistance, case management, and community programs.
Visit partnerSlavic Community Center of NW
Supports education, employment, health and wellness, social services, business development, career growth, legal assistance, and cultural heritage.
Visit partnerSlavic Oregon Social Services
Provides free, confidential, culturally specific support for survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Oregon's Slavic communities.
Visit partnerCommunity Pulse Association
Offers educational and health programs, senior services, food support, job fairs, youth programs, women's groups, family coaching, grief support, and mental health services.
Visit partnerArts for Equity
Added as the sixth organization, Arts for Equity brings a creative-equity lens to culturally specific community healing, access, expression, and youth-centered arts engagement.
How COSEEO works
Trusted messengers, plain language, community feedback.
Listen first
Focus groups, interviews, workshops, and anonymous questions surface fears, misinformation, stigma, and navigation barriers.
Translate systems
Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, English, and other language supports make health, social service, business, and civic systems easier to understand.
Build capacity
Coalition infrastructure, CHW training, peer education, referral coordination, and partner learning keep capacity inside the community.
Connect
Bring COSEEO into your next community-centered project.
Partner with the coalition on culturally specific outreach, mental health education, workforce development, cancer screening navigation, vaccine confidence, small business support, or arts equity.