Contracting Equity – Public Health – Seattle & King County
Community-centric Evaluation
Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) set a goal to make their contracting processes with community-based organizations and community consultants more accessible and equitable. Our team designed a community centric process to deliver the insights PHSKC needs to accomplish this goal.
Co-design Working Group
We convened a planning committee made up of community partners with prior experience contracting with PHSKC. This group provided us with an understanding of community experiences and helped us plan feedback sessions with community-based organizations. They formulated our guiding question for the community feedback sessions: “How would you design a contracting process that feels good?”
Community Feedback Sessions
We hosted bilingual (English and Spanish) community feedback sessions that were attended by 46 community-based organization representatives. Using a combination of facilitated conversations and arts-based methods, such as movement and storytelling, we learned how community-based organizations would design a contracting process that feels good.
Sharing Results through Art
We created a report with over 50 detailed recommendations and we worked with four local artists to turn our insights into art that conveyed what an equitable contracting process feels like. We hosted a multilingual (English, Spanish, and Oromo) gathering at a local art gallery to share these pieces and our recommendations with feedback session participants. Throughout the process, community partners conveyed that they felt heard and welcome.
