We are Nelda Reyes, of AB Cultural Drivers, and Kim Leonard, Leonard Research & Evaluation (pictured here with Ingrid, one of the Alliance business coaches, during a site visit to her office in early 2024). We have been working in partnership on an evaluation of the Oregon Child Care Alliance, and appreciate this opportunity to reflect on the project and the ways we have collaborated with community to advance equity.
The Oregon Child Care Alliance (OCCA) was collaboratively designed by child care providers, system leaders, and funders to help child care business owners strengthen and sustain their businesses. The OCCA is what is known as a “Shared Services Alliance” meaning that child care businesses are collectively supported through business coaching, management tools and access to shared or lower cost business services.
Rad Resources
The Community Engagement Spectrum was developed by Rosa González of Facilitating Power and published by the Movement Strategy Center. The Spectrum is a continuum of opportunities describing the ways in which we can engage community members and shift power and ownership from marginalization to defer to. It is a valuable tool for planning and reflection in evaluations designed to be participatory, collaborative and advance equity.
Lessons Learned
Different interest holders will have different needs and interests around engagement; complex projects can enable a wide range of community engagement which can evolve over time.
Even when designing with specific engagement goals in mind, it is important for evaluators to listen very carefully to what different groups and individuals need and want out of the engagement in order to locate the best approach, and level in the Spectrum, and adapt engagement efforts accordingly.
Over time, the roles and focus of various groups in the Alliance has evolved, shifting where we place our energy in engaging groups in the evaluation. For example, funder representatives were deeply involved in the early stages of the Alliance’s development (involved on the Spectrum) but have shifted power to the Alliance team and advisory group and are now best described as informed. Business coaches have played a much more critical role in the Alliance than first anticipated, which moved us to shift our engagement efforts toward collaborate to include them more deeply.
Evaluators can model what shifting power can look like for others.
We have noticed that our efforts to build engagement across the Spectrum have contributed to the Alliance team paying greater attention to the needs and opportunities to engage coaches, providers, and partners beyond evaluation-related activities. They have thoughtfully shifted their approach from consult to collaborate and at times defer to.
Rad Resources
Thoughtful planning for engagement that meets people where they are supports how they want to engage, and can shift who is making decisions about what matters. This practice is aligned with culturally responsive and equity-driven evaluation movements. The Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF) defines equity as present in both process and results, which means not only does the outcome of our evaluation efforts matter, but the way in which we reach them does too.
To learn more about what we’re learning through the Oregon Child Care Alliance about supporting the child care ecosystem, visit: https://www.oregonchildcarealliance.org/community-impact/
We’re looking forward to the fall and the Evaluation 2024 conference with our colleagues in the Local Arrangements Working Group (LAWG). Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to contribute to AEA365? Review the contribution guidelines and send your draft post to AEA365@eval.org. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.