Community Collaborative Structure

The Community Collaborative is a collective of members from across sectors who initially came together to co-design COVID-19 vaccine implementation with the Washington State Department of Health in February 2021. Now its focus is on recovery efforts with the goal of eliminating further harms on Black, Indigenous and communities of color, and all those facing harm due to systemic racism and oppression. The Community Collaborative ensures an equity and social justice lens is applied in the Department of Health’s (DOH) planning and decision-making opportunities.  

Our Commitments 

  • Build Authentic Relationships - we are committed to building relationships across sectors of government & community institutions that are focused on shared goals of achieving health equity. 

  • Center Communities Most-Impacted - we believe that those who are closest to the issues are also closest to the solutions. The leadership of those, with lived experience, are most valuable in decision-making tables. 

  • Focus on Solutions - we will address community-identified needs and implement recommendations to ensure equitable access to health resources and support policies that uplift health equity. 

  • Lead with Transparency - we will ensure that community engagement is not an afterthought but a lived practice based on accountability and ensuring community is brought in in all parts of decision-making process. 

 Our Thought Partners 

The Community Collaborative is guided by the direction of our Thought Partners. Thought Partners are community stakeholders who take a more formal, active, and represented role within the Community Collaborative to ensure it is community led, centers the communities and sectors that have been most disproportionately impacted by health inequities, and advances pandemic recovery efforts well beyond the Covid 19 pandemic.  Current Thought Partners include: 

  • Amelia Bai, Oceania Northwest 

  • Chauné Fitzgerald, Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities 

  • Cyril Walrond, Black Prisoners’ Caucus, Northwest Community Bail Fund, RECLAIM 

  • JanMarie Olmstead, Seventh Generation Strategies   

  • Jo Anderson, City of Tukwila  

  • Kathleen Wilcox, African Americans Reach and Teach Health 

  • Lin Crowley, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition 

  • Lua Pritchard, (Skye Rozon - designate), Asia Pacific Cultural Center 

  • Mayra Colazo, Central Washington Disability Resources 

  • Mulki Mohamed, Runta News 

  • Pa Joof, WA West African Center 

  • Shalom Agtarap, Common Good Tacoma 

  • Todd Holloway, Center for Independence 

  • Van Kuno, (Steve Bader- designate), Refugee & Immigrant NW Services 

  • Vincent Perez, Equity Institute