Washington Health Benefit Exchange Hea Health th Equity ty T TAC - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Washington Health Benefit Exchange Hea Health th Equity ty T TAC M Mee eeting March 27, 27, 2018 2018 Welcome

Agen enda Welcome and Introductions Preview Within Reach Equity Tool: Protocol for Culturally Responsive Organizations TAC Discussion: − Equity Tool − Health Equity Definition Preview 2018 Equity Benchmark Public Comment 2

Making the connections Washington families need to be healthy. WithinReach Healthy Equity Assessment Tool Annya Pintak, MSW

Agenda • WithinReach’s Intercultural Competency Committee (ICC) • Provide an overview of the equity assessment tool • Share about WithinReach’s equity assessment process and next steps

Intercultural Competency Committee (ICC) • Made up of staff from various departments led by 2 co- chairs • 10 Members o Chief Strategy Officer o Director of Programs o 3 Managers o 2 Coordinators o Hotline Staff o AmeriCorps Member o Executive Assistant

ICC HISTORY TIMELINE History of Intercultural Competency/Equity Work at WithinReach 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2015 2004 2006 2011 WithinReach holds first cultural First organizational Staff cultural competency orientation A qualitative assessment is done to competency training. assessment is completed. process is developed. gather feedback from staff about how they currently implement cultural competency in their work. 2007 2012 2016 Results of the qualitative assessment A question about cultural The cultural competency committee are analyzed and the process of an competency is added to the develops a charter. Cultural competency organizational cultural responsiveness staff evaluation form. questions are asked as part of the new assessment begins as a result. The executive director all-staff interviews. mission, vision, and definition of cultural competency at WithinReach are re-written to be a clear and 2009 2013 concise communication tool. All-staff retreat is held to A strategic plan for cultural competency collaboratively develop a cultural is developed as part of the agency’s competency vision and goals for overall strategic plan for FY 2013-2016. WithinReach.

Cultural Competence Statement: WithinReach recognizes, respects, and responds to diversity within ourselves, our organization and our community Vision Statement: WithinReach fosters awareness and appreciation of the diversity of our clients, our partners and ourselves. All policies and programs reflect WithinReach’s value of cultural responsiveness to promote health equity. Cultural Competence Definition: Cultural Competence at WithinReach is a commitment to promoting equity through culturally responsive evolution of behavior, policy and organizational structure.

Our Assessment Tool This Protocol was created to assist organizations to improve their ability to serve communities of color. It is a deep dive- covering the full arena of organization’s governance and operations, integrating nine different domains, a set of 99 standards to establish the ideals for our work, and a set of 109 pieces of “evidence” that support an organization to assert it’s capacity to well-serve communities of color.

• Health & Human Services Committee of the Coalition of Community of Color • Center to Advance Racial Equity at Portland State Protocol for Culturally University Responsive Organizations • Assessment to Action Phase • Grading matrix to “diagnose” one’s status • Next steps & improvement plan • Organizational model for a culturally responsive organization

A culturally responsive organization is thus one that has comprehensively addressed power relationships throughout the organization, from the types of services provided and how it maximizes linguistic accessibility, to its human resources practices – who it hires, how they are skilled, prepared and held accountable, to its cultural norms, its governance structures and policies, and its track record in addressing conflicts and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, to its relationships with racial groups in the region, including its responsiveness to expectations. Furthermore, a culturally responsive organization is one that is dynamic, on a committed path to improvement and one that is hardwired to be responsive to the interests of communities of color, service users of color and staff of color.

Culturally Responsive Organizations Protocol • 9 domains – Standards in “evidence - based” terms – Self assessment metrics

• Domain #1: Commitment, Governance and Leadership • Domain #2: Racial Equity Policies and Implementation Practices • Domain #3: Organizational Climate, Culture and Communications • Domain #4: Service Based Equity • Domain #5: Service User Voice and Influence • Domain #6: Workforce Composition and Quality • Domain #7: Community Collaboration • Domain #8: Resource Allocation and Contracting Practices • Domain #9: Data, Metrics and Quality Improvement

Equity Assessment Process at WithinReach • Created a subcommittee of 12 staff  Communication and Program Managers  Coordinators  Chief Strategy Officer  Director of Programs • Scoring Process: teams from subcommittee assigned specific domains, discussed scoring in a larger group (2-3 hour meeting) • Completed 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 assessments

Equity Assessment Process at WithinReach • 2016-2017 results: shared at all staff meeting and ICC retreat – All staff engaged in creating action steps for highlighting strengths and opportunities – Broken by departments – Influenced WithinReach’s 3 year strategic priority • 2017-2018 results: finished assessment process, currently planning for retreat • Hired external facilitator – Dr. Victoria Gardner

Domain 4 Goals: Service Based Equity • Language accessibility • Integration of cultural perspectives and practices • Ensure service users have a voice

Strengths Opportunities • Track and assessing disparities • Program staff are experienced by clients evaluated for their speaking different languages ability to overcome • Have Community Advisory service barriers Board review services for relevance to communities of color • Timely interpretation • Additional training to support services are provided staff in “unlearning” racial for free bias

Domain 2 Goals: Racial Equity Policies and Implementation Practices • Create policies that: – Ensure that progress isn’t lost when leadership changes – Make a clear commitment of intention to work towards equity – Establish accountability for the effectiveness of policy

Strengths Opportunities • Develop an agency • Each year the ICC equity policy or develops a plan to statement work towards intercultural • Write annual reports on competency progress of equity plan and ICC work • Evaluate managers and leaders for their ability to implement equity

Domain 8 Goals: Resource Allocation and Contracting Practices • Budgets reflect strategic priorities and create concrete methods for financial accountability • A focus on “minority contracting” ensures that historically disadvantaged businesses can compete

Opportunities Strengths • Develop policy on • Willingness to develop minority contracting/ and learn new practices subcontracting • Ensure all contractors/ subcontractors include equity and cultural responsiveness in contracts • Learn more about equity-based budgeting

2018 Action Plan • Health Equity Task Force begins work on the agency Healthy Equity Plan • Annual Board retreat focuses on health equity • Annual ICC staff retreat focuses on undoing racial bias and health equity plan implementation

Some things to consider:  Who is going to drive the Equity Assessment process? And who will be involved?  Identify appropriate Equity Assessment Tool, adapt as needed  How will you implement and conduct the Equity Assessment across agency?  Process to review equity assessment and integrate results programmatically and organizationally

Questions? Annya Pintak Program Manager annyap@withinreachwa.org 206-830-7662

TAC D C Discu cussion ion: E Equity T y Tool ool  TAC members interested in developing a methodology for your work (e.g., equity assessment process or tool)?  Shared goal/vision among group members?  Next Steps 4

TAC D Discussion T Topics: Next Steps  Today: Use of Assessment Tools  Next: Defining Equity  Board questions: How does the TAC define equity? Shared understanding among group members?  Review definitions of equity submitted by TAC members  TAC member who would like to present and/or lead the discussion?  On Deck: Role of TAC  Board questions:  What role does the TAC want to play in promoting equity across the Exchange?  Are TAC members interested in playing a role in inter-agency coordination at the state level?  How can the TAC help the Board and the Exchange implement key strategies? 5

Washington Health Benefit Exchange Equity Data and Benchmarks Health Equity TAC Meeting March 27, 2018 Joan Altman, Associate Director of Legislative and External Affairs