Invitation

To: Participants
Re: Service Integration Design Process

Improving the lives of families in White Center/Boulevard Park-for example, improving family economic success and strengthening families-is a common focus of much of the work we all do. One way to help achieve these outcomes for families is through service integration. Over the last few years, a number of efforts have been launched around service integration: community conversations about residents' unmet needs; creation of work groups aimed at improving family economic success and strengthening families; a scan of service providers and their target populations, programs, and services; and a peer match with two California communities that have actually integrated services to better serve families.

To build on these efforts and the momentum they have created, and take advantage of specific opportunities in White Center/Boulevard Park, the Partners Group and the Annie E. Casey Foundation would like to invite you to participate in an intensive two day design charette on neighborhood service integration.

What: Neighborhood service integration design charette
Who: Key institutional partners, community stakeholders, and
national resource people on service integration
When: Wednesday, June 25, and Thursday, June 26
Where: Evergreen High School
830 SW 116th
Seattle, WA 98146

The overall purpose of the charette is to translate the vision for neighborhood service integration-developed over the last several months by key institutional partners and community stakeholders-into a blueprint for implementation at both the level of the community and specific institutions, including facilities, programs, and services. You are being invited to attend to provide your insight and expertise along with others representing a wide range of perspectives on service integration from the community, state, and national perspective. The charette will begin on the morning of Wednesday, June 25 and conclude late in the afternoon on Thursday, June 26. Although two days is a significant commitment of time, we believe you will find the charette a stimulating and productive experience, one that will move us forward on a community wide approach to service integration.

Proposed objectives for the charette are:

• Build on previous work done by our institutional partners and community stake-holders in defining a vision and guiding principles for neighborhood service integration and a family resource system/center.
• Help translate the vision, guiding principles, and key elements into a blueprint for implementing neighborhood service integration in White Center/Boulevard Park.
• Explore how each existing and/or proposed facility project, along with programs and services can align with the vision, guiding principles, and key elements, and the specific choices/steps needed to achieve alignment.
• Address specific facility project opportunities-such as DSHS, Hope VI, and Community Schools-and use the vision and blueprint to help identify entities that could be collocated and how they would relate to each other and the rest of an integrated service delivery system in White Center/Boulevard Park.
• Determine a structure and process for implementing the blueprint for neighbor-hood service integration in White Center/Boulevard Park. It should be noted that many of the participants in the charette have been polled to determine what they hope to achieve; information gained from the poll and more in depth conversations with institutional partners and community stakeholders may, as we learn more, alter these objectives in important ways.

The charette will be facilitated by InnovationLabs, a nationally recognized firm known for its ability to facilitate large groups with diverse interests toward innovative solutions and specific outcomes. For more information on InnovationLabs, see its website located at www.innovationlabs.com.

Materials to be read prior to the charette will be posted on the InnovationLabs website.
Also before the charette, we will be contacting you to get your input regarding outcomes you would like to see as a result of the charette, so they can be incorporated into our planning. To confirm your participation in the charette, please contact Melinda Bloom at mbloom@mcskc.org or 206.762.7760. Also, if you would like further information or have any questions, please call or email us.

We look forward to seeing you on the 25th and 26th.

Sincerely,