King County is working to become an anti-racist and pro-equity government, and is looking toward community engagement and co-creation to reach those most affected by inequality. One way shown to improve on this inequity is to compensate those in the community who participate in developing county programs.

The Office of Equity and Social Justice (OESJ) is partnering with Root Cause Equity Consulting to connect King County departments doing this work with these community members. The goal is to establish consistent standards for compensating community members who work with our government through volunteer advisory groups.

Providing expertise and experience in a meaningful and ongoing way to county programs is a significant time commitment for residents. Community expertise is invaluable and compensating people fairly for their time and commitment helps to remove barriers to participation.

How staff are involved

OESJ recently completed an Inventory of Existing Projects with the involvement of twelve departments. Data and samples were collected from agencies on current and past compensation practices. This information helps to establish a baseline for future policies by identifying common themes, strategies, and structures.

Following this phase will be a Staff Engagement component. This phase will include listening sessions to get deeper insights into successes, challenges, and barriers.

How you can help: Spread the news

This project is currently recruiting for the Community Engagement phase. This involves paid listening sessions to better understand the experience of residents who take part in advisory groups. OESJ will also connect with people who have barriers to participation that prevented them from working on projects in the past.

Do you know someone?

If you know someone in the community who might be interested in providing input, have them complete a quick Interest Form, and OESJ will follow up with the details. Meetings will be held online via Zoom. The session dates are as follows:

• Wednesday, July 13 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, July 16 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Monday, July 18 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Need a different way to provide input?

People can share their thoughts through the Public Input Engagement Hub. Comment on one or all the questions. All insights will help shape the final recommendations. Translations are available in ten languages.

Follow this project

Visit KingCounty.gov/CommunityCompensation  to learn more about the OESJ Community Engagement and Co-Creation team and their work. For questions or comments, please reach out to CECteam@kingcounty.gov.