Best Starts for Kids is investing in a number of capacity building efforts. This is a series to explain what we mean by capacity building and why we think it is so important. You can find our first post on our overall approach here. Today we share how we tailored capacity building to best support some of our funded partners across two Best Starts strategies.
At Best Starts for Kids, we know that program implementation can be incredibly complex. Many factors impact a program’s capacity to support families in improving outcomes—from the program you develop, to the organization’s ability to collect and report on financial and program data, to the systems the program operates in and interfaces with. Because of this complexity, the Home-Based Services and Parent/Caregiver Information and Support strategies partnered with a group of local capacity-building support providers to ensure that programs had access to resources and coaching across the breadth of factors that can impact a program’s success—and ultimately, a family’s success.
As part of our capacity building supports for prenatal to five programs, each of the 10 Community-Designed Home-Based funded partners and 9 Parent/Caregiver Information and Support funded partners were matched with a team of capacity building support providers. There is no one size fits all. So the capacity builders tailored their support individually while all focused on:
- Developing well-defined, culturally responsive programs
- Strengthening data systems and organizational capacity
- Creating responsive systems
Best Starts intentionally recruited a diverse capacity building team that represent and are from diverse communities throughout King County. With extensive knowledge and experience working with our funded partners, our capacity building team engages with programs using a strong equity approach, ensuring that the support is tailored to specific needs and responsive.
Developing Well-Defined, Culturally Responsive Programs
The DSK-CRES team—Dr. Sharon Knight, Hassan Wardere, and Aileen Balahadia—delivered a series of workshops, coupled with individualized coaching, to support programs in developing and strengthening their prenatal-to-five programs by incorporating community input and research. Through this work, programs analyzed the systems impacting their communities through a racial equity theory of change, developed a practice model to provide supports to families, created an implementation plan to identify the infrastructure needs to get ready to implement the new program, and drafted a two-year program budget to determine costs of the program.
My experience in the capacity-building process has proven to be an incredibly helpful opportunity for me to develop and strengthen the vision I have when it comes to most effectively serving others and future clients. I emerged with a great sense of hope, purpose and excitement about the future and the great work yet to be done. I was reassured through the relationships and the resources that filled the room that the possibilities are endless, and all that we can accomplish when we work together. I’ve learned a great deal of information that has clearly prepared me for future projects ahead.
Gregory, D.A.D.S.
Strengthening Data System and Organizational Capacity
After organizations developed their programs, they were partnered with two teams—ML Whalen Consulting which focuses on data capacity building and Rainier Valley Corps—which focuses on organizational development. Capacity-building support providers worked with each organization to assess capacity and priorities. Together, they are co-creating a set of data system development and organizational capacity building goals that they will work together to achieve over the next two years.
They are currently helping us develop data tools (i.e., surveys), identify how to integrate our measurements strategically in all our tools, and select a data system. ML Whalen Consulting has genuinely taken the time to understand our project and have been responsive to our data needs…They have helped us think more in-depth about how to capture our story (the quantitative numbers, the micro successes, and the referrals/connections made)…They do a fantastic job capturing our vision and ideas. This data capacity building team has been incredibly supportive, and we are very grateful to have the opportunity to work with them.
Hana, Somali Health Board
Creating Responsive Systems
Even great programs delivered from strong organizations can face challenges in implementing if the system is a barrier. That’s why Best Starts funded the YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish to help build the capacity of the Home-based service system to be more responsive to families and providers. To focus on this effort, the YWCA is convening home-based service providers to gather input and feedback from families and providers across the county to make systems changes that center the voices of communities of color.
Hear from our partner at Iraqi Community Center of Washington how much the Best Starts capacity building has meant to their organization and work:
Stay tuned as we continue to share more about our capacity building efforts, from data to systems change!