Participatory evaluation in a government setting: Engaging program partners in performance measure data reflection, dissemination, and community building

Abstract Information: Best Starts for Kids (Best Starts) is a King County, Washington voter-approved initiative to support every baby born or child raised in King County to reach adulthood happy, healthy, safe, and thriving. Through comprehensive supports from prenatal development to adulthood, Best Starts catalyzes strong foundations in early childhood and sustains those gains as children progress to adulthood, launching King County’s kids on a path to lifelong health and well-being. Aligned with the Best Starts Equity and Social Justice framework, in 2023, Best Starts held a community data walk to engage service delivery partners and broader community in discussion about performance measurement data collected during the first five years of the initiative. Presenters used mixed methods to create data summaries and facilitate data reflection. Discussions centered around design and implementation of services, data collection methods, and service delivery impact.  In this roundtable session, we will provide a brief overview of Best Starts’ approach to using the Results-Based Accountability framework to co-create performance measures aligned across the full initiative. Then we will describe the steps to designing a participatory community data walk that outlined the performance measurement data of over 40 service delivery partners. We will review the process for creating engaging data summaries and outline key considerations including how to prepare for community conversations about data that support community building and peer learning. Finally, we will share back post-event learnings, feedback, and visual examples of tools to use during a community data walk.   Throughout the session, we will facilitate pauses to reflect on where community voice in data currently shows up in session participants’ work and how the tools described in this presentation could be helpful for future community engaged program design, implementation, and dissemination. Discussion will focus on successes, challenges, and lessons learned to generate ideas that can advance community voice, including in government evaluation. Session participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and share their own ideas and feedback for future data walk events.