“I Got Your Back” – COO’s Governance Group Retreat Strengthens the Work
Governance Group members, staff, and facilitator during the retreat. Photo Credit: Sian Wu.
They’re working in leadership roles at community-based organizations, building partnerships, or leading community coalitions. Some are driving policy change at the state and local level. All of them are strengthening their communities. Amid that, they also made the time to come together for a day of thinking, planning, collaborating – and building community.
The 2024 Governance Group Retreat, March 1 at Cedarbrook Lodge in South Seattle, was the first time most of the COO-BSK Advisory Board/Governance Group (GG) had been in the same room in a year. Many of them have just joined the GG this year. Fifteen of the 19 current GG members, one nominee, and COO staff joined together to review initiative accomplishments, hone goals and responsibilities, share stories and messaging, and plan for this milestone year and beyond.
In a successful and productive day, they shaped an action plan and came away with a renewed commitment to this work – both as a group and individually.
COO GG Co-Chairs Sandhya Nakhasi and Dae Shogren, along with Interim Director Elsa Batres-Boni, guided the activities for the day. (Note: GG Co-Chair positions rotate every three months.) Matt Echohawk-Hayashi of Headwater People served as facilitator. Strategic communications consultants from Resource Media, Marcela Gara and Sian Wu, led exercises on messaging and telling the COO story. Interpreters from Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Language Access Program provided interpretive services.
Agreements for the Day and Setting the Stage
Interim Director Elsa Batres-Boni leads a discussion.
Matt set the tone for the day with an ice-breaker exercise that ended with saying to each other: “I got your back.”
It meant that Governance Group members and staff should always remember that COO can’t accomplish what we’re aiming for without supporting each other.
Echoing this approach, Dae shared seven Community Agreements that the group agreed to observe throughout the day.
Put Relationships First: Work to build community, trust, and joyful collaboration.
Keep Focused on Our Common Goal: Advance racial equity and eliminate disparities in our neighborhoods and communities.
Listen/Create a Space for Multiple Truths & Norms: Respect others when they are speaking. Speak from your own experiences, and seek understanding. No fixing, no saving.
Notice Power Dynamics: Be aware of how you use your privilege – From taking up too much emotional and airtime space, to disengaging.
Be Kind and Brave (Lean Into Discomfort): Be explicit with your language about race, class, gender, immigration, and so on. Expect messiness and non-closure.
Care/Self-Love: Recognize that conversations on race impact us in physical ways. Be present with your thoughts and body; pay attention to your breathing.
Confidentiality: What’s shared here, stays here. What’s learned here, leaves here.
“Safety is not guaranteed,” Dae said. “A safer space is something we create together.”
GG member Gloria shares feedback during a discussion.
Elsa led a Roles and Responsibilities exercise, which was especially important given that several of the group were new to COO. She asked everyone to review the Best Starts for Kids Implementation Plan and think how to transmit meaning and purpose, and to always think about collective power.
10 Years of COO’s Impact
In a mapping presentation, the group saw some visualizations of COO’s 1.0 (2015-2021) investments and impact across the initiative’s four result areas. Those four areas are Community Connections, Economic Opportunity, Health, and Safe and Affordable Housing.
Some of the recurring themes of the day included:
A discussion group in action at the retreat.
Matt presented findings about COO’s 1.0 impact.
Governance Group has been a valuable space where different sectors have come together, not only to fund important work in the region, but also to strategize and influence decision-making on how and what investments should be made.
COO’s impact extends beyond King County. How can we better demonstrate this impact at the state level? Many of COO’s partner organizations are headquartered in Seattle but operate statewide.
The importance of conveying not just the result or policy/systems change outcome, but how we got there – how the work gets done. It comes from meaningful community engagement and building trusting relationships and partnerships. It includes a strong legacy of anti-racist work and pro-equity strategies over decades.
After 10 years of experience, we’ve learned that successful policy and system change requires long-term investment in community power-building. It is the Governance Group's responsibility to share these lessons with other funders and decision-makers.
Note: Highlights about our 2023 impact will be available later this spring when the Best Starts for Kids annual report and dashboard are published. You can find full details on the results of Phase 1 (2015-2021) on our website’s Evaluation page.
Elsa (center front) and co-chairs Dae and Sandhya (at right) guide the discussion.
COO’s Evolving Values
Prioritizing values during an exercise at the retreat.
Consultants Marcela Gara and Sian Wu of Resource Media led the group through an exercise to identify what COO values are most important to them and how to express unique COO values.
This was based on previous Governance Group-developed values: equity, process equity, community engagement, driven by quantitative and qualitative data, and innovation.
Marcela and Sian also integrated results of a survey they had sent to GG members and staff before the retreat.
Sian (above) and Marcela (below right) from Resource Media led the values and Theory of Change exercises.
In another exercise, the group talked about how to explore and explain what makes COO unique. This includes how best to describe our Theory of Change – in other words, the approach COO uses to support all King County communities in being healthy, thriving, and self-determined.
The exercise also touched on and uplifted:
The power of stories in explaining COO’s impact.
The fact that there’s strong support for the values. The group also talked about possibly adding the values of belonging and community leadership.
The impact of using alternative forms of expression – such as art – to convey values.
Finetuning COO’s Governance Group 2024 Work Plan
Dae and Sandhya outlined four goal areas GG members had previously identified.
Goal #1: Present COO’s model with other funders and decision-makers and bring them on board.
Goal #2: Facilitate strategic partnerships with institutions and funded partner organizations.
Goal #3: Provide feedback and advice to general King County and Public Health community engagement programs.
Goal #4: General support for COO and GG’s work.
They asked groups to review the goals and ensure they’re aligned with GG member responsibilities.
Sandhya shares her group’s feedback.
Groups discussed the goal areas, then shared takeaways, which included:
Relationships with each other are how the most impactful work happens.
COO is a network. The Governance Group should find more opportunities to make connections with and for COO partners – with other community-based organizations, other funders, government agencies, and more.
More clarity is needed about roles and responsibilities.
COO’s mission has evolved over the years, from community centering and engagement to focusing on building community power.
As a follow-up, Dae and Sandhya assigned each person to a workgroup to address the goals and contribute to strategic planning for the year. The first assignment was to meet in workgroups in March and report back at the March 29 GG meeting. For example, one group is working on a strategic partnership plan and the expectations for GG members and staff around this work.
Carrying the Work Forward
At the conclusion, Elsa repeated the theme from the day, “I got your back,” and talked about the importance of everyone feeling trust. She gave special thanks to two of the staff members, Sandy Centeno and Julia Barrera – the youngest members of the group – to emphasize the importance of multigenerational work.
Afterwards, co-chairs Dae and Sandhya thanked everyone for the successful retreat day. “We're excited to see the momentum behind the working groups,” they said in a follow-up email, “and that we are beginning to find ways to step into our roles as Governance Group members to best serve and advance the mission of COO.”
The Governance Group meets monthly in person and online and meetings are open to the public, similar to all King County boards and commissions. Learn more about the Governance Group on our website.