Elevating Participant Voices in Evaluation of Equity-Focused Public Sector Innovations: Learnings from King County Washington

Abstract Information: To advance equity, King County Washington strives to implement program and policy innovations that address and eliminate avoidable differences for historically underserved or marginalized communities. To uphold these aims and intent, King County also strives to implement equitable evaluation. Such evaluation encompasses design and methods that are culturally appropriate, help uncover structural and systems-level factors that drive inequity and can be implemented with care so that they do not perpetuate harms. Equitable evaluation explores whether, why, for whom, and under what circumstances programs and policy are optimally impactful. To be equitable, we believe evaluation approaches should incorporate the perspectives and experiences of those most affected by what is being evaluated to promote participant ownership and support learning and responsive improvement of programs and policies. King County continues to learn and grow in our practice of equitable evaluation, and we believe sharing our experience will promote insights for other governments. While inclusion of community input is a core equitable evaluation practice, it can be difficult to build into government evaluations. This session highlights a range of challenges, including budgeting sufficient time and resources for implementation of equitable evaluation approaches, providing fair compensation to community members who participate in evaluation activities, reaching very vulnerable program participants, and navigating certain orthodoxies that are common to government agencies—such as the ways that timelines often are prioritized over trust-building and relationships, and ways that performance and impact measures are valued above the opportunity to learn about and improve upon interventions. Presenters will describe evaluations of equity-focused innovations implemented by different King County departments, each of which includes input from community members affected by the particular program or policy. Featured projects include innovations related to public transit service, mobility solutions to connect vulnerable individuals to supports and services, fair childcare wages, and community-power building. Some evaluation choices, considerations, and practices highlighted in this session were informed by King County’s two-year engagement with the Equitable Evaluation Initiative (EEI). EEI supports practice partners to conceptualize evaluation as an activity “holding at its core a responsibility to advance progress towards equity.” Representing EEI, the session’s chair will guide presenters to unpack evaluation choices and considerations that, when clearly named and addressed, can enhance government agencies’ equitable practice.