The Challenge

For immigrants and refugees of color in South King County, Washington, access to equitable early childhood education is not a given—it requires organized, sustained advocacy. In 2019, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, OneAmerica launched the Community Organizing for Education and Racial Justice project to improve the quality, inclusivity, and equity of early childhood education for immigrant and refugee families by empowering parent leaders to influence change in schools and education systems. At the heart of this work was a theory of change that positioned those most affected by inequity as the most capable agents of transformation. OneAmerica sought to evaluate progress across four key areas: leadership development and training, centering community leaders, launching and expanding campaigns, and organizational structure and vision.

The Approach

Social Insights partnered with OneAmerica to conduct an evaluation rooted in collaboration, reflexivity, and equity. Our evaluation design centered the voices of both staff and community leaders to assess progress across 19 outcomes.

• Trained OneAmerica staff to conduct focus groups with community leaders in their own communities

• Led in-depth staff interviews to surface challenges, victories, and areas for growth

• Conducted a comprehensive document review across strategy documents, meeting agendas, internal reports, and data dashboards

• Co-developed a leadership tracking tool to assess and support the power-building progress of individual parent leaders across four tiers: supporter, ambassador, emerging leader, and core leader