EQUITY

Amplifying Community Power

Co-creating Solutions to Address Systemic Causes of Health Disparities

Every person in King County should have an equitable and just opportunity to live a healthy, thriving life – receiving the care and support they need with respect and without stigma.

We work closely with our partners and communities to address inequities resulting from historical and current practices, harmful power dynamics, structural racism, discrimination, and the impacts of colonization.

Want to learn more, get involved, or support our efforts to address equity and anti-racism in the healthcare delivery system?

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Our Approach

HealthierHere is committed to weaving equity and anti-racism into the fabric of our organization – from governance and policies to partnerships and programs. We center the voices of those most impacted by health disparities and inequities in our planning, decision-making, and accountability.

We acknowledge that equity is both a process and a product. See how we put that approach into action:

Ensure shared power in governance and decision making.

Over 50% of our Governing Board's seats are dedicated to community members, Tribes, and community based organizations (CBOs). Our Community and Consumer Voice Committee and Indigenous Nations Committee are formal committees of the board and inform HealthierHere's work and board strategy.

We support community members and CBOs to be present at all HealthierHere tables through stipends, capacity support, travel accommodations, childcare, and more.

Elevate priorities of communities through authentic, ongoing engagement.

We build trusting relationships and pathways for participation with community-based organizations and consumers with lived experiences of health disparities. Together, we identify priorities and challenges and co-create solutions.

See our Equity Spotlights below for example of how we implement this approach.

Invest to redistribute resources with a focus on equity, impact, and sustainability.

Whether our funding comes from the Medicaid Transformation Project, philanthropic or private sectors, our equity-driven approach to investing is guided by and designed to maximize impact for the people we serve and places that need it most. We use an equity tool to inform decision-making about who we fund, based on need and other metrics. Partners receive an equity bump in pay-for-progress contracting.

Support organizations to operationalize equity through incentives and capacity building.

We forge partnerships between community, clinical, and tribal organizations, incentivizing and expanding capacity to address equity and anti-racism.

Contracted partners receive training, create roadmaps, and earn funds in part through implementing Equity Action Plans.

Establish mechanisms to define, guide and measure progress.

Through collaborative, transparent processes and policies, we collectively set standards for performance and accountability around equity within our organization and network. We collect and analyze data to drive systemic change and continue to iterate on our approach based on feedback and changing needs. See our:

Equity Spotlights: From Moments to Movements

HealthierHere and our network are collectively working to address equity and racism at the individual, institutional, and systemic levels. Explore key insights and actionable learnings.

The Consejo on Wheels (COW) program is a mobile clinic that brings behavioral health services directly to underserved communities in King County's remote and rural areas. By addressing barriers such as financial limitations, transportation challenges, language differences, and mental health stigma, the COW program ensures access to care for all. Staffed by licensed professionals, the clinic offers a range of services, including crisis intervention, assistance with enrollment, and personalized care coordination. This community-focused initiative ensures that residents across King County have access to culturally and linguistically relevant, responsive care, wherever they are. Learn more about the COW program here.

When peers support peers through recovery, the impact is lasting. At Peer Washington, people use their lived experience of addiction, mental health, and HIV/AIDS to help individuals build their own paths to recovery from chronic illness, addiction, and more. Behavioral health issues disproportionately impact people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and individuals in poverty. In response, Peer Seattle and Peer Kent locations work to ensure ALL adults have access to services such as 1:1 peer coaching. In this free, 26-week program, trained coaches walk alongside recoverees who are early in their recovery journeys, providing active support while serving as role models of long-term recovery.  Learn more about Peer Washington, including their locations and recovery services, here.

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