"Listen and Be Ready to Shift": Case Study on Communities of Opportunity

“Listen and be ready to shift”. These were the words of now Communities of Opportunity (COO) Governance Group member and Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association (WCCDA) at the nascent stages of the formation of COO. As part of a planning conversation between funder representatives at the Seattle Foundation and King County and community leaders, the group’s conversation “called for centering racial equity and recognizing community power.”

“The community leaders on the design committee endorsed focusing on 20% of the county with the most to gain. They were adamant that an asset-based frame be used and that their neighborhoods not be known by their deficits. The phrase “the lowest 20%” was out and a new term, “Communities of Opportunity,” went into use.

Read more about the origins of Communities of Opportunity (COO) in this case study on featured in the January/February 2021 edition of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice:

Multisector partnerships that put racial equity and community leadership at their center can create pathways to healthy communities... A committed group of community leaders worked with the funders to create an innovative structure that redresses past and current racial injustices and supports local leaders acting on ambitious priorities. A shared analysis of structural racism in the past and the present can deepen relationships and increase local government and funder credibility. When health departments and funders create the space for community leadership, initiatives can have broader reach and greater sustainability. 

“Listen and Be Ready to Shift: How Racial Equity and Community Leadership Launched “Communities of Opportunity”, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice in Vol. 27, No. 1, January/February 2021

Read the rest of the abstract here, or reach out to info@coopartnerships.org for a copy of the full article.