About Us

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We are a growing movement of partners who believe every community can be a healthy, thriving community - and that equity and racial justice are both necessary and achievable.

Being housed, healthy, employed, and connected to one's community are basic human needs. Yet from neighborhood to neighborhood, access to these essentials vary widely. Race, income, and zip code are major predictors of how healthy we are and even how long we live. 

Low-income communities and communities of color regularly experience institutional racism in the form of decisions being made for them, and of having their voices, priorities, and strengths disregarded. Communities of Opportunity believes the most meaningful, just, and sustainable solutions are generated in partnership with communities -- who know what they need to be healthy and thrive. COO is dedicated to changing the systems, policies and environments that create and reinforce these disparities and towards creating a vibrant, equitable King County where everyone thrives regardless of race or place.

COO believes that investing in strategies that build community power is critical to pushing for structural changes toward equity, Justice, and Thriving, Self-determined Communities.

Our History

 
Index of Health & Well-Being Measures in King CountyWhile average measures of quality of life, social, and health factors in King County are among the highest in the country, these averages mask stark differences by place, income, race and ethni…

Index of Health & Well-Being Measures in King County

While average measures of quality of life, social, and health factors in King County are among the highest in the country, these averages mask stark differences by place, income, race and ethnicity. 

 

In 2014, the Seattle Foundation and King County government were each laying the groundwork to address economic and racial inequities through place-based work and systemic change. Rather than doing business as usual and proceeding on independent tracks, King County and the Seattle Foundation came together to incubate a new public-private approach called “Communities of Opportunity.” 

This unique public/private/community-based partnership has expanded and now includes support through Best Starts for Kids - a King County initiative building strength and resilience in kids, families, and communities.

 

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Our Values

Communities of Opportunity invests in strategies that build Community power and change systems and policies.

Read more about the values developed by the COO-Best Starts for Kids Advisory Board/COO Governance Group that ground our work.

COO Strategies

When community members have voice and power in the decisions that impact their communities, and express it through civic engagement and leadership, it leads to broader community and policy changes that assure racial, health, and economic equity. Three reinforcing strategy areas are at the heart of Communities of Opportunity. 

  • Place-based and cultural community partnerships that drive change locally.

  • Policies and systems changes that create and sustain equity at all levels.

  • A Learning community that leverages the power of collective knowledge to accelerate change. 

PLACE-BASED & CULTURAL COMMUNITy (PBCC) Partnerships

Community partnerships and power are essential.

Seattle Urban Native Nonprofits (SUNN), one of the partnerships supported by COO, united in spirit and practice at the UW Intellectual House

Communities of Opportunity (COO) works with partnerships in neighborhoods and cultural communities to advance better health, safe and affordable housing, economic opportunity and stronger community connections for residents. 

COO makes multi-year funding commitments to partnerships working to build community power and are rooted in:

  • Cultural and identity-based communities who are most adversely impacted by health, social, economic, and racial inequities. COO seeks to support solutions that positively impact conditions, particularly in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, and among people with low-incomes, immigrant and refugee communities, people living with disabilities, and nongender conforming communities.

  • Place-based communities where there is a confluence of indicators pointing to the most disparate health and well-being outcomes in King County. Priority is given to communities ranking in the lowest quintile for health and well-being. These areas have the greatest opportunity to close the gaps that exist –- based on the COO composite index of health and well-being indicators. This includes, isolated rural communities with significant disparities compared to areas in which they are located.

Find a full list of the Place-Based & Cultural Community partners on our Partners page.

A photo of 4 people facing away from the camera, standing outdoors on a sunny day, surrounded by green trees and grass, with their hands on each other's shoulders
As a coalition of community led organizations, we have been working together for decades to support and advocate for our communities.
— Karter Booher, former Executive Director of Ingersoll Gender Center

POLICIES AND SYSTEMS CHANGE (SPC)

Policies and Systems play an essential role in equity.
Affordable housing, local employment, and quality education should be attainable regardless of our race, ethnicity, income, or where we live. Yet our institutions and policies shape who has access to wealth, health, and prosperity.

Communities of Opportunity partners are working to dismantle the persistent racial injustice within our systems by:

  • Building community capacity to carry out coordinated advocacy efforts

  • Integrating equity into policies at all levels: neighborhood, organizational, city, county, and state

  • Advocating for policies that support community priorities and needs

  • Expanding representation of cultural communities by stepping into leadership and political roles.

Find a full list of our funded partners through Systems and Policies grants on our Partners page.

Learning Community (LC)

The Learning Community (LC) convenes and resources activities to build capacity, share learning, facilitate new connections and test innovative models that catalyze and sustain momentum toward greater equity. Under the Learning Community model is two central components:

  • Capacity Building: leadership development, organizational and partnership infrastructure, and sustained civic capacity to actualize equity. Capacity building is focused on funded partners and other organizations/groups across King County working on related and aligned efforts. For more on COO’s capacity building framework, read our Capacity Building 1-pager.

  • Innovation Funding: resources for community-based research, and the piloting and testing of new and alternative ideas that contribute to systems and policy change.

Learning Community evaluation reports:

For the latest Learning Community opportunities and events, sign up to receive emails. Find Learning Community tools, toolkits and resources on the Learning Community Resources page.

 

Result Areas

COO strategies invest in work that impacts Housing, Health, Economic Opportunity and Community Connections/Civic Power.

For more on how COO has evaluated our progress in these areas, check out our evaluation report and yearly progress reports.

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Quality affordable housing 

Preservation and development of affordable housing that is in close proximity to transit, jobs, and education. 

The right to be healthy        

Access to healthy, affordable food and safe places outside to be physically active, especially for our youth.

 
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increased economic opportunity

Workforce development that includes local hires, support of new local businesses, and inclusion of our youth.

strong community connections

Increased civic participation and engagement, cultural preservation, and access to safe public spaces.

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Unlike conventional evaluation approaches that can be top-down or perpetuate inequities, participatory evaluation brings stakeholders and evaluators together to collaboratively develop and implement the evaluation. In alignment with COO’s values of shared power and decision-making, a participatory approach ensures partners, governance group, and staff play an active role throughout the evaluation process.

Evaluation

We update evaluation findings yearly. Find these reports on our Evaluation page:

We are grateful for the participation of the Evaluation Advisory Group members in the guidance of our evaluation work.


Stories from COO & Partners