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Measurement that aligns systems with communities toward equitable outcomes…
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| Requires up‐front investment in communities to develop and sustain community partner capacity; |
Co‐design of measurement requires upfront and sustained investment of time, money, and other resources to build and strengthen economic and social assets in communities through activities such as job creation, skill‐building, racial equity training, and local events to foster social cohesion, which directly address existing challenges. This investment is essential to building authentic partnerships among stakeholders engaged in measurement, including community members; community‐based organizations; grantmakers; community initiative implementers, anchor institutions, and nonprofit organizations; and local, state, and national leaders. Authentic partnership means that all partners have decision making authority in every step of measurement from start to finish, including the design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination or publishing of results. Readiness to advance equitable, authentic partnerships may vary depending on past actions and relationships. Building and sustaining capacity for these partnerships requires all stakeholders to invest time in readiness self‐assessment and ongoing self‐reflection to check biases and behaviors.
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| Is co‐created by communities to center their values, needs, priorities, and actions; |
Co‐creation requires shared power, diversity in perspectives, and shared ownership of data.
Shared Power
As co‐creators, power is shared such that no one entity dominates the measurement process or dictates the concepts measured. Checks, balances, incentives, and mandates—where required—are established to avoid perpetuating existing power imbalances, recognizing that these imbalances directly impact data ownership. In creating shared power, it is important to identify multiple and meaningful opportunities for community members to have a clear role; early and ongoing involvement; and power, agency, and decision making authority at all stages of measurement. This includes selecting measures—making key data decisions, such as what data to use, who will collect data, and when and how to collect data—analyzing, interpreting, and making sense of measure results—refining measurement as needed in response to findings—deciding how measures will be reported and used, and by whom
Diversity in Perspectives
All partners co‐creating measurement recognize and welcome diversity in perspectives, experiences, culture, and priorities within communities and prioritize marginalized voices in decision making. Recognizing and welcoming diversity means intentionally creating frequent and ongoing opportunities for shared learning through dialogue and partnership among the wide range of stakeholders within communities. Shared learning opportunities reinforce a mutual appreciation for the knowledge and wisdom that each stakeholder brings to the conversation, including the shared and varied experiences of community members, especially with the tangible effects of systems, policies, and practices within their communities. Opportunities to partner around measurement are open to a wide range of community partners, with emphasis on supporting and building the capacity needed for partnership among individuals who bring direct lived experience with the systems, policies, or outcomes at the heart of the measurement effort. Community members have an agency to share their positions, solicited or unsolicited. Communication is open, transparent, and bi‐directional with embedded feedback loops.
Shared Ownership of Data
Data creation is a collective effort with all involved partners as shared owners of the data, especially the communities from which those data are derived. Communities have full access and authority to use their own raw and manipulated data. They are recognized as creators of information, not solely recipients of the information. Communities evaluate, reexamine, refine, and if needed, reject measurement strategies or interpretations that misalign with or misrepresent them or their goals. Communities' roles as measurement co‐creators continue throughout the measurement lifecycle, recognizing that community needs and priorities shift over time.
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| Creates accountability to communities for addressing root causes of inequities and repairing harm; |
Root Causes of Inequities
Measurement focuses on the root causes of inequities, not symptoms of inequities. This includes measuring the impact of policies, practices, and structures that create and perpetuate inequities and highlighting how systems affect people in multiple ways (i.e., intersectionality). An example is measuring the effects of racist policies (e.g., redlining) on communities of color. Measurement creates accountability for addressing root causes when communities use measurement to identify their needs, define goals, monitor progress toward those goals, and define the ways that root causes harm community members.
Repairing Harm
To minimize the risk of harm and unintended consequences from measurement, communities shape the purpose of measurement, the stories used to make sense of measured data, and actions taken in response to measurement. Communities define when measurement itself causes harm, such as when measuring inequities is used to reinforce negative narratives about communities or when inequities are highlighted but not addressed. Communities' roles in assessing real and potential harm begin in the earliest stages of measurement and continue throughout the life of a measurement effort. This includes transparent decisions about who is to be held accountable when measurement causes harm. Transparency in decisions, roles, and actions supports accountability and shared power. A diversity of perspectives is needed in monitoring for harm because harm may be experienced differently by different members of a community. When communities determine that measurement has created harm, entities using measurement must not dismiss or perpetuate that harm. Rather, those using measurements are accountable to communities through open acknowledgment and transparent, collaborative, restorative actions.
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| Focuses on a holistic and comprehensive view of people and communities that highlights assets and historical context |
Measurement highlights communities' assets, resilience, and resources, not just areas for improvement. These assets are understood in the context of past injustices (e.g., slavery, segregation, unethical research, mandatory minimum sentences) that have negatively impacted communities and led to the inequities observed today. Quantitative information from measurement is balanced with stories and qualitative information from community members to frame measurement around how communities define themselves, their strengths, and expressed needs and goals. A holistic focus considers the myriad factors affecting community members' health and well‐being, as they define it. These factors may include multiple systems such as health care, transportation, food, education, public health, and other human and social services as well as other cultural or lived experiences of health and well‐being. It also requires measurement at the individual, system, and population levels.
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| Reflects shared values and intentional, long‐term efforts to build and sustain trust. |
Measurement reinforces trust, relationship building, and accountability when partners agree on shared values and goals and everyone has a clear role in measurement they can recognize, identify with, and continually act on. Community members' trust is earned over time and can be achieved and sustained through acknowledging mistrust and its root causes; being accountable within and across systems to address social, economic, and political structures and policies that create and perpetuate racism and exclusion, income inequality, and conditions and environments that diminish health (e.g., food insecurity, poor housing, reduced access to care); and promoting transparency throughout the measurement process about decisions, actions, and the resulting outcomes. Measurement helps systems become more trustworthy partners by engineering into systems structures and incentives for accountability to communities.
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