Earlier this year, Best Starts released our First Levy Evaluation request for proposal (RFP) in search of a partner to use qualitative and quantitative data, including the data collected during the first levy period, to answer the question: To what extent and in what ways has the Best Starts for Kids initiative improved health and well-being and advanced equity for children, youth, families and communities in King County?
We’re excited to announce the awardee for our First Levy Evaluation RFP:
Illuminate Evaluation Services
A look at the work ahead
Illuminate Evaluation Services will be sending a survey to all community partners funded during the first levy period from 2016 to 2021 to gain insight into learnings, challenges, and recommendations. They will also conduct interviews with Best Starts staff, community leaders, and a randomly selected group of previously funded partners to get a diverse set of perspectives for a deep dive on some key questions about the first levy period. If you or your organization is randomly selected to participate in an interview, Best Starts staff will be reaching out to you on Illuminate’s behalf.
Learn more about Illuminate Evaluation Services and how they describe their work:
Illuminate Evaluation Services, a small, woman-owned business located in King County, provides advanced evaluation, research, and consulting services through an inclusive and collaborative approach. We are committed to providing an equity-focused evaluation and research evidence that support local and regional decisions about policies, programs, and practices designed to improve outcomes for youth in our region. Our five-person team draws from years of experience as researchers, evaluators, psychologists, and philanthropic leaders, as well as being parents and members of the community. We deeply believe in evaluation as storytelling, and we work hard to balance rich qualitative data with robust statistical analyses to tell the story of a program, highlight successes, identify inequities, and present recommendations that help not only the funders, but the grantees and beneficiaries. Our portfolio includes projects that focus on children, youth, and families often from historically disadvantaged groups and covers all Best Starts for Kids focus areas. We are skilled at working on complex multisite, multiyear projects using qualitative and quantitative data with an equity lens.
For more information, contact BSK.data@kingcounty.gov.