Pre-Planning Checklist

In this pre-planning phase, you will:

• ✓ Read all establishing documents such as underlying Legislation, Budget Proviso or Executive Order
• ✓ Identify Key Partners and Advocates
• ✓ Meet with Key Partners and Advocates to:
  • Define the workgroup topic.
  • Define exactly what “lived experience” means specific to this workgroup’s topic and scope
  • Clarify the outcome or product of the workgroup
  • Define key words in the legislation
  • Establish a timeline
• ✓ Conduct an Equity Lens and Landscape Analysis to understand the impacted community

Knowing the answer to these foundational questions up front helps set clear expectations for staff, partners, and community members.

Research Establishing Documents

Workgroups established by Executive Order

All Governor-issued Executive Orders can be found and downloaded here: Executive Orders | Governor Bob Ferguson.

Workgroups established within legislation

If your Workgroup was established by Legislation, you can find those documents by going to www.leg.wa.gov and searching for the bill number.

“Bill Reports” can be found under the “Available Documents” section. These are plain-talked versions of the bill that also include helpful background information and are not written in confusing, legal language.

Figure 1: An image of what you will encounter when you search for those documents on that page.

Workgroups established within budget provisos

State budgets, budget proposals, fiscal data, and easy-to-read educational guides for budget beginners and citizens can all be found on the WA State Fiscal Information website at www.fiscal.wa.gov.

Find the budget bill (typically the State Operating Budget) and look up the proviso about your workgroup by doing a keyword search in the document using CTRL + F to search for keywords related to your project.

Identify Key Partners and Advocates

Key Partners and Advocates are people or organizations who played a key role in establishing the workgroup or shaping or advancing the issue your workgroup will be focused on. These people often hold critical knowledge that will help you clarify the focus of your workgroup.

For Workgroups established by an executive order or legislation:

• Legislators who sponsored the bill
• Legislative staff who worked on the bill
• Professional or citizen lobbyists who worked on passage of the bill/executive order
• Agency staff who worked on the bill/executive order

For Workgroups established by an agency without an underlying mandate:

• Community organizations who are impacted by the issue you will be examining
• Subject matter experts with knowledge related to your issue
• Agency Impact team members
• Disability specialists or tribal liaisons
• Agency legislative directors
• Staff who will be supporting the workgroup
• Your supervisor or relevant leadership from within your agency

Host a Planning Meeting

Once you have identified your essential advocates, convene a Planning Meeting with all those people plus anyone else who will support the workgroup on your team. Here, you will establish clarity and set expectations, ensuring that your group is taking its cues from the people who helped establish the need for the workgroup in the first place.

Planning Meeting Checklist

Purpose

• Brief overview of the reason you are meeting
• Brief, plain-language summary of the underlying legislation, Executive Order, or any written documentation that is relevant to the creation and purpose of the workgroup

Intent & Priorities

• Clarify the issue this workgroup is trying to address
• Discuss the outcomes or changes that your essential advocates hope this work will lead to
• Identify which issues, communities, or perspectives are most important to include

Define Key Terms

• Identify key terms to ensure alignment in definitions
• Define what key words mean in the context of this workgroup; use definitions from underlying legislation or executive order if provided
• Double check to make sure you are using inclusive language by referencing the Statewide Diversity Equity and Inclusion Glossary produced by OFM

Define “Lived Experience” for this Workgroup

• Who are the people most impacted by this issue?
• Agree on an example of someone who would qualify as having Lived Experience for this topic
• Agree on an example of someone who would NOT qualify as having Lived Experience
• Discuss what types of people would exist in a grey area between those two
• Discuss, debate, and refine until the group has a highly specific definition and has eliminated likely gaps

Workgroup Expectations

• Clarify required deliverables (for example: a report, recommendations, or an action plan)
• Decide who is responsible for drafting or finalizing written products
• Clarify the expected level of detail
• Identify any required questions or topics that must be addressed
• Share reporting requirements or accountability expectations
• Explain how often the workgroup will meet and for how long
• Share key milestones and when progress updates are expected

Wrap-Up

• Ask Key Partners and Advocates if they are willing to support recruitment efforts by sharing application information later
• Ask Key Partners and Advocates if they want future periodic updates or check-in meetings

“Government agencies should recognize they are not the drivers of change, but the vehicles for it. This requires a continuous practice of radical transparency and the humility to acknowledge the inherent power imbalance in our systems. By grounding our work in mutual respect and active accountability, we intentionally shift the balance—ensuring that the community isn't just informed by the agency, but is the driving force steering our mission.”

— Alexi Castilla (Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families)

Conduct a Landscape Analysis

Once you have identified the community you will be engaging with at your Planning Meeting, you can begin to learn more about them.

A Landscape Analysis is a brief research exercise that helps you understand the big picture and conditions around a community, issue, or region. Think of a landscape painting of a far-off mountain range – you can see the outline of the mountains, how many there are, the color of the sky, and the lowland trees below. What you can’t see in the painting is individual blades of grass, bugs, or rocks. Your Landscape Analysis should be like that landscape painting – a “big picture” view of the whole issue.

Landscape Analysis Guiding Questions:

• What are the racial/ethnic identities most common to this group?
• Which languages are most spoken?
• Where does this population live, geographically speaking? How might there be differences based upon geographic location?
• Is there a dominant religion(s) practiced by this group?
• What are the most common social or economic experiences of this group? (income level, education, home-ownership status, etc.)
• What are the existing community-based organizations such as nonprofits, churches, small businesses that work with this population/issue?
• What are the online spaces or websites where this community connects (if any)?
• What are the popular methods of communication within this group (social media, specific messaging platforms, in-person gatherings, etc.)?

Include an Equity Lens in your analysis:

• What assumptions are often made about this population or subject?
• How does this harm different communities? (What data can we find to help us better understand this?)
• How can we find and involve community members who have not previously been heard?
• How can we make sure community members who are not in the workgroup can still be heard?
• How will we gather broader community feedback, so we are not relying on only a few voices?
• What are the assumptions underlying the policy, procedure, or practice that this workgroup is tasked with examining?
• How can you involve the most impacted people in the decision-making process?
• What are some strategies for reducing or eliminating negative impacts on impacted people?

Common Landscape Analysis Research Sources:

• US Census Bureau
• WA State Agency Databases
• WA Office of Financial Management Database
• Your Washington
• Blogs, articles, or op-eds written about the community experience from their perspective
• Academic research
• Reports or studies from trusted research organizations, backed by the impacted community
• Community Based Organization websites or published materials

Landscape Analysis Benefit Scenarios

Meet with the Relevant “Consulting State Entity”

After you have done the baseline research to understand the community in question, agency staff are required to meet with the relevant “Consulting State Entity” if one exists for the topic/population in question.

Present your landscape analysis to the Consulting State Entity partners and ask them to help you identify any knowledge gaps you may have about the population. Staff at the Consulting State Agency may be aware of community leaders, nonprofits, or efforts that you wouldn’t have found simply by searching online.

Consulting State Entities for Demographic Outreach:

• Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA)
• Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA)
• Commission on Hispanic Affairs (CHA)
• Washington State LGBTQ Commission (LGBTQ)
• Washington State Women’s Commission (WSWC)
• Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues & Employment (GCDE)
• Governor’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee (VAAC)
• WA Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC)

For a complete, up-to-date list, refer to the Governor’s Board & Commission Profiles: Board & Commission Profiles

Additional Outreach Groups:

• If the work intersects with any tribes, consult our Tribal Relations Guide
• Speak with your agency’s IMPACT team (agency IMPACT teams are a group of staff that convenes in accordance with  Executive Order 22-04 to promote a Washington for All. 
• Seek out relevant Statewide Business Resource Groups (BRG)