Case Study: California Department of Public Health (VA58)
Cultivating Communities of Belonging
California Dept. of Public Health - VA58
Overview
The Kahakulei Institute partnered with Everyday Impact Consulting to design and facilitate community engagement sessions for the California Department of Public Health's Vaccinate All 58 campaign. The goal was to understand strategies to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among historically underrepresented communities.
Solution
Kahakulei Institute utilized an innovative methodology called The Second Circle to design and facilitate 6 virtual sessions for 10 different community cohorts, engaging a total of 118 participants statewide. The Second Circle approach uses principles like beginning and ending with ceremony, establishing community agreements, intentional framing of discussion, skilled facilitation, and individual reflection. Key aspects of Kahakulei Institute's community engagement work:
● Facilitated 10 cohorts organized by affinity groups such as Black/African Americans, Latinos, immigrants/refugees, rural communities, older adults, etc.
● Led sessions focused on relevant topics like navigating crises, belonging, healing divisions
● Opened sessions with grounding activities and closed with reflective activities
● Adjusted approach as needed to meet needs of different groups ● Helped establish trust and relationships between communities and public health department
● Elicited input and feedback to inform public health strategies
● Provided skilled facilitation to hold space for sensitive discussions
Outcome
In summary, Kahakulei Institute played a lead role in designing and conducting an innovative community-centered engagement process using The Second Circle methodology to elicit insights from diverse communities to strengthen COVID-19 vaccination efforts in California. Because of this program the state was able to reach diverse populations more effectively and promote public health in a culturally-relevant and contextual way.
“What I appreciated most was the way in which Kevin worked with us as a thinking partner to create and implement the program. First, working with me to understand and articulate a clear picture of what our goals and objectives were, then providing creative options for how we could reach those objectives all the while thinking about how to adapt to meet the diverse needs of the participants.”