Governance

The Communities of Opportunity (COO) initiative is guided and governed by a collaborative partnership of community leaders, government entities and philanthropic organizations. The COO-Best Starts for Kids Advisory Board/Governance Group (GG) provides guidance on the implementation of COO strategy and activities, and serves in an advisory role for the COO elements of the Best Starts for Kids levy implementation plan.

Members must be King County residents and are recruited on an ongoing, rolling basis in accordance with membership needs and requirements. As a King County Board or Commission, stipends are currently not available for participation.

Upcoming Meeting Calendar:

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CANCELED Governance Group Meeting
Governance Group Meeting
Governance Group Meeting
Governance Group Meeting

MEETING MATERIALS

Find minutes and meeting materials from 2014-present.

2024 GOVERNANCE GROUP MEMBERS

Bilan Aden

African Community Housing & Development (ACHD) 

Lydia Assefa-Dawson

King County Housing Authority 

Elsa Batres-Boni

COO Director 

Elsa is the Director of COO with over 15 years of community organizing experience in Seattle, King County, and Washington state. She has worked with OneAmerica, Casa Latina, Social Justice Fund, and the Washington Census Alliance. Before joining COO in 2023, she worked with the City of Seattle's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and the Department of Neighborhoods, leading the Civic Engagement team.

Elsa is an engaged and community-oriented mom of a pre-tween child. Outside of her professional pursuits, Elsa finds joy in cooking, sharing, and relishing food and is also an enthusiastic gardener, spending her time daydreaming about the perfect seasonal garden or immersing herself in the physicality of tending plants and moving earth at her Rainier Valley home.  

Michael Brown

Civic Commons, Seattle Foundation (COO Sponsor) 



Aaron Garcia

White Center Community Development Association

Ubax Gardheere

Cultural Space Agency

Ubax is Director of Fund Development for the Cultural Space Agency and Managing Director for Savannah Community Consultants. With a strong background in community development and equitable practices, she previously served as the Equitable Development Initiative Division Director in the City of Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development. She oversaw the EDI fund, investing in community-based organizations focused on anti-displacement strategies and economic development in Seattle. For the Housing Affordability Livability Agenda Committee, she actively contributed to advancing equitable transit-oriented development priorities, land use policy, affordable housing policy, and community-based participatory planning. Ubax earned a Bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems and E-Commerce from Washington State University and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Seattle University.

Lindsay Goes Behind

Seattle Foundation (COO Sponsor)

Cilia Jurdy

FEEST 

Sandhya Nakhasi

Common Future 

Sandhya Nakhasi is an executive leader and champion of reimagining a more equitable financial system. She is currently a co-CEO at Common Future, after serving as Managing Director of Impact Investments, where she used an experimental approach to stewarding and growing a portfolio of field defining, equitable lending and community-led investment programs. In her career to date, she has worked at public, private, and non-profit financial institutions where she developed her expertise in impact investing, credit analysis, portfolio risk management, and portfolio operations.

Gloria Ramirez

Colectivo de Pueblos Originarios  

Sili Savusa

Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington (PICA-WA)

Sili Savusa leads the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington (PICA Wa) and is one of the most prominent Samoan community leaders in the Northwest. As a leader in her community, Sili continues to proudly represent and advocate for BIPOC communities whose voices are constantly underrepresented. Prior to joining PICA Wa, she was the Executive Director of the White Center CDA and led the development of a $24 million housing and Community Hub project.​ Her accomplishments include being the first woman of color elected to both the Highline School Board and appointment to the Board Trustees for Highline College.

Michael Seiwerath

SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) 

Dae Shogren

Representing King County Council  

Yordanos Teferi

Multicultural Community Coalition (MCC) 

Matías Valenzuela

Representing King County Executive (COO Sponsor) from Public Health - Seattle & King County 

Matías Valenzuela, PhD, Directs the Office of Equity and Community Partnerships at Public Health – Seattle & King County. Matias was a county lead for Equity and Social Justice at its inception in 2008, and starting in 2015 he became the first director of the county’s Office of Equity and Social Justice. In the COVID-19 response, he directed Community Mitigation and Recovery, and he co-led the county’s team declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis. He has been a Fulbright professor in Nicaragua, and he is an Affiliate Assistant Professor at University of Washington's School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

Jackie Vaughn

Surge Reproductive Justice 

Jackie Vaughn (she/her) is an anti-racist organizer who organizes with Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities here in King County for reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. She is the Executive Director of SRJ (Surge Reproductive Justice) which mobilizes communities for a world free of state-sanctioned violence and reproductive oppression. She is a mother and is deeply invested in birth justice for Black birthing people and building a strong community for her daughter to grow up in. Her organizing work has covered immigration justice, prison abolition, and economic justice. 

Joon-Ho Yu

UW & Korean Community Service Center (KCSC)