The Impact of Learning Circles on Collaborative Work Ann-Margaret Webb, City of Seattle, Planning & Development Specialist Adrienne Easter, City of Seattle, Contracts Manager Catherine Lester, Director | Ed Murray, Mayor | Hyeok Kim, Deputy Mayor | Kate Joncas, Deputy Mayor

Background Increase in homeless families Additional funding to house families in 2014 Two pilot housing programs created- Diversion and Rapid Rehousing King County has a regional family homelessness initiative New flexible funding required data sharing and additional program monitoring 2

Who participated? Funders- City of Seattle, King County, United Way, Building Changes, King County Housing Authority and Seattle Housing Authority Agencies- Neighborhood House, Interim Community Development, Solid Ground, Wellspring Family Services, YWCA Regional initiative-Family Homelessness Initiative Coordinated assessment- Catholic Community Services 3

Structure and Purpose of Learning Circles Monthly, two hours Opportunity to learn as we go and course correct together Peer to peer feedback on specific cases Share data to track progress Borrowed from Conversation Café model 4

What does it look like? Our role-we facilitate and schedule All participants set agenda Typical learning circle – Introductions of new members – FOOD – Data review – FOOD – Problem solving – Success stories – FOOD 5

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Challenges and Solutions Turnover at agencies Staff burnout Inconsistent attendance Lack of buy-in from some Varied comfort levels with egalitarian model, sharing information and power, and receiving feedback Institutional privilege Reinforce the model of the circle What serves the families, not the system Modeled the behavior we wanted to see— accountable, admit fault, ask for help, self-care Did not censor conversations or agenda topics Talked about privilege from the beginning 7

More Challenges and Solutions Model can lead to excessive processing and delays in final decisions Time consuming Accessing data and reporting Change overload in regional family homelessness system Can create dependency on funders for case management decisions Always bring conversation back to solutions Reinforce roles and reestablish boundaries 8

Benefit for funders Established benefit of flexible funding and program models Established importance of a hands-on, collaborative approach with agencies Feedback and guidance from content matter experts (case managers/housing specialists) Sounding board for new ideas Strengthened relationship with agencies Brought us closer to the reality of what people who are homeless are experiencing 9

Benefits for agencies Access to funders and initiative staff Access to other case managers and housing specialists for peer support, collaboration and resource sharing Greater role in implementing new programs Allowed agencies to leverage relationships built in the circle Funders developed joint contracts Able to provide context and story to data and outcomes 10

Regional Impact Model of learning circle adopted by other programming areas like prevention Created opportunity to share what we were working on beyond traditional family homelessness providers—Youth and Adult, domestic violence, HOPWA, Office of Civil Rights Training needs identified in circles; training extended beyond circle. Introduced new funding partners to each other, leading to collaboration on new projects Expanded City of Seattle funding throughout King County 11

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Little and big things that worked No meeting minutes—attendance expected Consistency of meeting times and dates Taking turns hosting circle Include front line staff and managers from the agencies Include multiple layers of HSD staff Bringing in outside experts as needed to support your team Bring your team together and design your circle together Addressing resistance to the circle model or pilot models Don’t take too long to course correct 13

More things that worked Having entire team create agenda Allowing space for uncomfortable discussions Not trying to control the discussion, but keeping it solution based Acknowledge the work is hard and the process can be challenging Being honest about what you know, what you can do, what you have control over Make sure everyone is willing to share decision making and information Help newcomers understand the purpose of the circle and how it operates Be ok with silence, give space for participation 14

For more information: Ann-Margaret Webb, Planner Adrienne Easter, Contracts Manager

Questions and Conversation 16