Giving Compass' Take:

• Stacy Nguyen explains how the Seattle Foundation and King Couty are working to strengthen White Center and other areas by supporting the diverse community that lives there through collaborative efforts. 

• How can funders support communities working to improve themselves? 

• Learn how we can close the diversity gap in the nonprofit sector. 

Khatami Chau, 17, lives with his family in White Center, an unincorporated pocket of King County with a racially and ethnically diverse population. With many immigrants like him and a mix of cultures, White Center is a vibrant place that is also gentrifying rapidly. It's one key area where the Communities of Opportunity partnership between Seattle Foundation, King County and local partners is working to improve health, social, racial and economic outcomes and strengthen community connections.

Helping White Center preserve its diversity and strengthen its vibrancy are two key goals of Communities of Opportunity (COO), an initiative launched by the Seattle Foundation and King County in 2014. This effort aims to improve outcomes through policy and systems changes that target areas of the county that currently suffer poor outcomes, including White Center, Rainier Valley and SeaTac/ Tukwila, but that ultimately will benefit all of King County.

COO strives to shake up the traditional top-down relationship between funders and grantees, working instead in a collaborative partnership.

An early financial investment brought representatives from groups in White Center together to solidify community partnerships, asking these communities what they wanted to see happen in White Center, and creating strategies for optimal outcomes.

Andrea Akita, Director of COO, said the initiative focuses on community groups where there have been great disparities in health and well-being. “We often talk about these communities as ‘communities in need,’ but really, they have great assets and strengths — what they need is resources,” she said. “COO is working to improve results in four areas: safe, affordable housing, health, economic opportunity, and community connection.”

Read the full article about strengthening diverse communities by Stacy Nguyen at Seattle Foundation.