About Us

We are a growing movement of partners who believe every community can be a healthy, thriving community - and that equity and racial justice are both necessary and achievable.

Being housed, healthy, employed, and connected to one's community are basic human needs. Yet from neighborhood to neighborhood, access to these essentials vary widely. Race, income, and zip code are major predictors of how healthy we are and even how long we live.

Low-income communities and communities of color regularly experience institutional racism in the form of decisions being made for them, and of having their voices, priorities, and strengths disregarded. Communities of Opportunity believes the most meaningful, just, and sustainable solutions are generated in partnership with communities -- who know what they need to be healthy and thrive. COO is dedicated to changing the systems, policies and environments that create and reinforce these disparities and towards creating a vibrant, equitable King County where everyone thrives regardless of race or place.

COO believes that investing in strategies that build community power is critical to pushing for structural changes toward Equity, Justice, and Thriving, Self-determined Communities.

Our History

Map of King County in shades of blue. — **Index of Health & Well-Being Measures in King County**
While average measures of quality of life, social, and health factors in King County are among the highest in the country, these averages mask stark differences by place, income, race and ethnicity.

In 2014, the Seattle Foundation and King County government were each laying the groundwork to address economic and racial inequities through place-based work and systemic change. Rather than doing business as usual and proceeding on independent tracks, King County and the Seattle Foundation came together to incubate a new public-private approach called “Communities of Opportunity.”

This unique public/private/community-based partnership has expanded and now includes support through Best Starts for Kids - a King County initiative building strength and resilience in kids, families, and communities.

Our Values

Communities of Opportunity invests in strategies that build Community Power and change systems and policies.

COO Strategies

When community members have voice and power in the decisions that impact their communities, and express it through civic engagement and leadership, it leads to broader community and policy changes that assure racial, health, and economic equity. Three reinforcing strategy areas are at the heart of Communities of Opportunity.

Place-based and cultural community partnerships that drive change locally.
Policies and systems changes that create and sustain equity at all levels.
A Learning community that leverages the power of collective knowledge to accelerate change.

Community Partnerships

Community partnerships and power are essential.

Seattle Urban Native Nonprofits (SUNN), one of the partnerships supported by COO, united in spirit and practice at the UW Intellectual House

Communities of Opportunity (COO) works with partnerships in neighborhoods and cultural communities to advance better health, safe and affordable housing, economic opportunity and stronger community connections for residents.

COO makes multi-year funding commitments to partnerships working to build community power and are rooted in:

Cultural and identity-based communities who are most adversely impacted by health, social, economic, and racial inequities. COO seeks to support solutions that positively impact conditions, particularly in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, and among people with low-incomes, immigrant and refugee communities, people living with disabilities, and nongender conforming communities.
Place-based communities where there is a confluence of indicators pointing to the most disparate health and well-being outcomes in King County. Priority is given to communities ranking in the lowest quintile for health and well-being. These areas have the greatest opportunity to close the gaps that exist –- based on the COO composite index of health and well-being indicators. This includes, isolated rural communities with significant disparities compared to areas in which they are located.

Find a full list of the Place-Based & Cultural Community partners on our Partners page.

A photo of 4 people facing away from the camera, standing outdoors on a sunny day, surrounded by green trees and grass, with their hands on each other's shoulders

“As a coalition of community led organizations, we have been working together for decades to support and advocate for our communities.”

— Karter Booher, former Executive Director of Ingersoll Gender Center

Systems and Policy Change (SPC)

Policies and Systems play an essential role in equity.
Affordable housing, local employment, and quality education should be attainable regardless of our race, ethnicity, income, or where we live. Yet our institutions and policies shape who has access to wealth, health, and prosperity.

Communities of Opportunity partners are working to dismantle the persistent racial injustice within our systems by:

Building community capacity to carry out coordinated advocacy efforts
Integrating equity into policies at all levels: neighborhood, organizational, city, county, and state
Advocating for policies that support community priorities and needs
Expanding representation of cultural communities by stepping into leadership and political roles.

Find a full list of our funded partners through Systems and Policies grants on our Partners page.

Learning Community (LC)

The Learning Community (LC) convenes and resources activities to build capacity, share learning, facilitate new connections and test innovative models that catalyze and sustain momentum toward greater equity. Under the Learning Community model is two central components:

Capacity Building: leadership development, organizational and partnership infrastructure, and sustained civic capacity to actualize equity. Capacity building is focused on funded partners and other organizations/groups across King County working on related and aligned efforts. For more on COO’s capacity building framework, read our Capacity Building 1-pager.
Innovation Funding: resources for community-based research, and the piloting and testing of new and alternative ideas that contribute to systems and policy change.

Learning Community evaluation reports:

For the latest Learning Community opportunities and events, sign up to receive emails. Find Learning Community tools, toolkits and resources on the Learning Community Resources page.

Result Areas

COO strategies invest in work that impacts Housing, Health, Economic Opportunity and Community Connections/Civic Power.

For more on how COO has evaluated our progress in these areas, check out our evaluation report and yearly progress reports.

Quality Affordable Housing

Preservation and development of affordable housing that is in close proximity to transit, jobs, and education.

The Right to Be Healthy

Access to healthy, affordable food and safe places outside to be physically active, especially for our youth.

Increased Economic Opportunity

Workforce development that includes local hires, support of new local businesses, and inclusion of our youth.

Strong Community Connections

Increased civic participation and engagement, cultural preservation, and access to safe public spaces.

Impact

Unlike conventional evaluation approaches that can be top-down or perpetuate inequities, participatory evaluation brings stakeholders and evaluators together to collaboratively develop and implement the evaluation. In alignment with COO’s values of shared power and decision-making, a participatory approach ensures partners, governance group, and staff play an active role throughout the evaluation process.

Evaluation

We update evaluation findings yearly. Find these reports on our Evaluation page:

We are grateful for the participation of the Evaluation Advisory Group members in the guidance of our evaluation work.

Stories from COO & Partners

Content

From Isolation to Connection – Exploring Othering and Belonging for Transformative Change

Part One of a three-part series on the 2024 Othering & Belonging conference. A guest post by grantees and the Healthy & Safe Environments team.

Oceania Youth Health Summit – Island Roots and Global Impact

More than 300 people and 15 community partners gathered for the second annual Oceania Heath Summit, this time with a twist - it was youth-led. The co-lead, Mele Havea, shares her story in this guest post.

Communities of Opportunity News and Updates

The latest summary of Communities of Opportunity (COO) initiative news, events and updates

White Center_Community with shovels_COO-WCHUB2024-25.jpg

Hope, Unity, Belonging: White Center HUB Breaks Ground

White Center community members gathered Saturday, May 18, to recognize a huge milestone: The groundbreaking for the White Center HUB. The HUB (“Hope, Unity, Belonging”) will be a place of learning, sharing, and quality homes for working families, says the White Center Community Development Association (WCCDA). It represents deep involvement from the community, who participated in years of outreach efforts.

Connected, Informed, and Refreshed: First Community of Practice

Sometimes it can be challenging for partners who work in direct service to take a step back, reflect on their work, take a moment to rest, and reignite their passion for why they do the work they do. Having an intentional opportunity to connect with others can make all the difference when it's built into the workday.

Sixteen people representing 8 of our funded Place Based and Cultural Community partners got that opportunity when they attended the Community of Practice gathering April 16. They came away feeling connected, informed, and refreshed.

A Sneak Peek of New Beacon Hill Affordable Homes for Affordable Housing Week

A tour of SCIDpda’s new Beacon Pacific Village affordable housing development that will offer large family-sized apartments, childcare, adult day health, and more.

Community News! May 2024

Stories and news from across the COO network for May 2024, as well as some of the impacts on systems and policy led by groups working to build community power and community health and well-being.

“I Got Your Back” – COO’s Governance Group Retreat Strengthens the Work

COO held the 2024 Governance Group Retreat March 1 at Cedarbrook Lodge in South Seattle. GG members 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.

“A Paradigm Shift” for Community Power Building: COO Presents at National Grant-Makers Conference

Communities of Opportunity Governance Group members were invited to co-present at the PEAK2024 national conference in Seattle recently. In their workshop, they described COO’s unique funding and shared decision-making model.

Community News! April 2024

Stories and news from across the COO network as well as some of the impacts on systems and policy led by groups working to build community power and community health and well-being.

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap in Seattle: Workshop Shares Strategies and Successes

Community members come together to learn and share about community wealth building in a workshop led by People’s Economy Lab and The Democracy Collaborative.

Community News! February 2024

Stories and news from across the COO network as well as some of the impacts on systems and policy led by groups working to build community power and community health and well-being.

“There Was No Stopping Us”: Reflecting on Winter 2023 All-Partner Convening

Reflections from the December All-Partner Convening - a day devoted to connection, learning, sharing, and restoration.

Commercial Affordability Summit: A Recap (Part 2)

In this second part of the Commercial Affordability Summit recap, read about other current programs and models of commercial affordability and access to capital and support for small business and entrepreneurs: from those led by the City of Seattle such as Restored; to some of the most community rooted examples of commercial affordability projects.

The Learning Community: Driving change through community power building

COO drives change through investing in the groups, models, infrastructure and connections that build community power — in COO’s Learning Community strategy, the initiative resources the infrastructure, sustained capacity, and spaces for strengthened connections for community organizations’ to build and pilot innovative work and operationalize equity.

Community News! November 2023

Stories and news from across the COO network as well as some of the impacts on systems and policy led by groups working to build community power and community health and well-being.

COO Winter All-Partner Gathering w/keynote speaker adrienne maree brown

COO convenes partners from across the network and from across geographies to come together and build greater connections for an ecosystem moving in alignment and cooperation for greater equity, justice and well-being for all. Learn more about our upcoming convening and some of what has guided the planning and agenda.

Community news! October 2023

A roundup of community partner news and stories of impact in the media for October 2023!

Community news! September 2023

A roundup of community partner news and stories of impact in the media for September 2023!

"WE ARE FAMILY, TOO": Lavender Rights Project PSA

WE ARE FAMILY, TOO": Lavender Rights Project PSA highlighting the lived experiences of Black Trans Women and Femmes as a part of the Black “family” in America.

Advancing economic well-being by supporting BIPOC-owned small businesses

COO in the 2022 Best Starts for Kids Annual Report - highlighting just some of the accomplishments of COO community partners in 2022 across all strategies and the findings from the Commercial Affordability Pilot Project evaluation report.

Embracing a Shared Vision: Insights from the COO All-Partner Convening with Robin Wall Kimmerer

Communities of Opportunity (COO) is excited to share some of the highlights from the COO All-Partner Convening held on May 10, 2023 with Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer. This event brought together individuals and organizations driven by a shared commitment to equity, justice, collaboration and positive change.

Partner News and Partners in the News! (June 2023)

News, Resources and Updates from COO community partners - updated June 2023

Collective Learning: Practices to Build Community Power, Equity and Systems Change

This learning session, geared towards others working on collective impact projects, discussed key community-centered capacity building activities, impacts, learnings and contributions to community power building and systems and policy change outcomes and progress.

COO Community Partner Updates & News

Regularly updated news and happenings from COO community and aligned partners.

Announcing the 2023-2024 Communities of Opportunity Systems and Policy Change Awardees

Seattle Foundation and King County recently awarded grants to 18 community partners to advance systems and policy change to improve health, social, and economic outcomes in the region. This $2.8 million in funding is made through Communities of Opportunity’s Systems and Policy Change strategy.

Partner News and Partners in the News! (May 2023)

News, Stories, Resources and Updates from COO community partners - updated May 2023

Communities of Opportunity is seeking new Governance Group members!

Communities of Opportunity is seeking individuals interested in serving on the Governance Group (GG)/Advisory Board beginning in early 2022. The Communities of Opportunity GG/Advisory Board will guide the implementation of the COO activities and serve in an advisory role for the COO elements of the Best Starts for Kids levy. Learn more..

Tesfa Program’s Ethiopian Outreach Guide Toolkit for Providers

The Tesfa Program, developed this web-based toolkit to increase the capacity of providers, organizations, and decision-makers to better connect and serve local Ethiopian communities. Check out the toolkit, accompanying podcast and ways to get involved here!

Grounded in Youth - Working Alongside Youth Leaders

This conversation with youth leaders and staff from Young Women Empowered (Y-WE) explored how to create supportive and healthy spaces for youth leadership and development — and youth ownership of transformative organizing work.