A Heartfelt Thank You to Sarah Tran for Transformative COO Capacity Building

It is with immense gratitude and admiration that I extend my heartfelt thanks to Sarah Tran for her years of service in co-designing, developing, and implementing the COO Learning Community Capacity Building framework and activities. Sarah's dedication, expertise, and heart-felt commitment to supporting COO community partners and developing a responsive learning and capacity building program have played a pivotal role in driving positive change within COO. As Sarah transitions into an advisory role to COO from her COO Capacity Building design consultant lead role, I want to both offer my gratitude and reflect on a few of the things developed and delivered with Sarah’s leadership including:

COO All-Partner Gatherings focused on providing a space for both relationship and connection as well as learning and skill-building:

2023 Spring All-Partner Convening highlight reel

Winter 2023 All-Partner Convening highlight reel

A series of capacity building toolkit resources, created with and from the interest and feedback from community organizations: Community Collaboration | Alternative Leadership | HR & Equity | Fiscal Sponsorship
Over 25 other workshops, trainings and capacity building resources for community partners, many of which were developed for ongoing viewing and utilization.

This is in addition to the sometimes less-visible work to engage and connect community organizations to one another and to community consultants and resources, and to continuously evaluate the program. Within a sometimes unpredictable and always evolving landscape and world Sarah has been a dedicated collaborator in providing responsive, relevant and timely capacity building activities and resources – including significant pivoting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing changes since then.

2023 Collective Impact Action Summit presentation: Collective Learning: Practices to Build Community Power, Equity, and Systems Change

As part of COO’s capacity building framework Sarah has always looked for ways to embed and weave connection, healing and belonging into all activities – continuously wanting to create more spaces that support healthy and generative relationships – and the strong partnerships and connections that ultimately undergird the changes necessary for greater equity, well-being and thriving, and self-determined communities.

Sarah’s personal value commitments to community and relationship, her connections to community and dedication to uplifting the skills and strengths that exist in community – all have supported the development and growth of the Learning Community strategy to where it is today – and where we intend to go. This includes continuing to invest in responsive community capacity building resources and tools, spaces for connection, healing and partnership, and the infrastructure to sustain community power-building and policy & systems change work.

I extend my deepest gratitude for Sarah’s thought partnership, leadership, support and dedication to the COO Capacity Building framework, and all that she has done and created for COO partners through the Learning Community. Sarah’s collaborative partnership with former Learning Community strategy lead, Kalayaan Domingo, has planted many seeds that will grow in a myriad of diverse and transformative ways.

The Learning Community strategy and COO will continue to partner with Sarah and will continue to build upon the foundational work that Sarah, Kalayaan, and partners in community have established. Sarah’s legacy with COO will guide this work as COO continues to support the capacity, strengths, and brilliance of communities across King County.