Upstream

Mark Edwards is a co-founder of Upstream USA.  He has long been passionate about intergenerational poverty and lack of economic mobility in the US. Prior to co-founding Upstream, Mark was the founder and executive director of Opportunity Nation, a national, bipartisan campaign made up of 300 national nonprofits, educational institutions, and companies focused on closing the opportunity gap through Federal policy reform. From this platform, Mark saw firsthand how unplanned pregnancy played an outsized role in changing the educational and economic trajectories of many women and men. He left Opportunity Nation to co-found Upstream USA because he believes that one of the most powerful things we can do to increase opportunity and mobility, and reduce intergenerational poverty, is to reduce unplanned pregnancy and help women achieve their own goals.

Peter Belden is a co-founder of Upstream USA. Prior to co-founding Upstream, Peter led the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s grantmaking for family planning and reproductive rights in the US for eight years. Towards the end of that time two large studies were published showing that when health centers implement the best practices in contraceptive counseling and availability, the result is a dramatic reduction in teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy. The impact was larger, and more immediate than from any other project Peter had seen in reviewing hundreds of grant proposals and reports. Peter was inspired to co-found a new organization to share best practices with health centers across the country and help them achieve similar results. Prior to his time at the Hewlett Foundation, Peter managed the San Mateo, CA health center for Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, leading 14 staff and serving 1,000 clients each month. Peter received an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford and a BA with honors from Princeton University.