The City of Seattle’s Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods have selected Seattle-based company The Profitable Nonprofit to coordinate and facilitate the City’s Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force (ECI), a group of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) community leaders. The ECI Task Force is a group of 27 community leaders charged with conducting a community-led process that results in budget, policy, and programmatic recommendations. These recommendations will be used by the City to support near and long-term priorities in BIPOC communities.
The Profitable Nonprofit is led by Pamela J. Oakes, a Seattle native with three decades of experience combining corporate training, consulting, public speaking, private philanthropy, and business ownership. Oakes has strong knowledge of our local community stakeholders and organizations and a history of innovative, community-centered engagement and facilitation.
“The Profitable Nonprofit team is excited to be chosen as the facilitator for the ECI Task Force,” said Pamela Oakes. “While we are appreciative of the complexities of group dynamics, where we excel is in bringing processes and data for maximizing impact for the community. Our commitment is to move towards actual results by applying proven practices that reflect our core values of evidence-based rigor, community voices and actionable insights and plans.”
“It is imperative for the Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force to have a partner leading our recommendations effort who understands Seattle’s communities, our processes, and needs. After a highly competitive selection process, we are fortunate to be working with a homegrown organization, like The Profitable Nonprofit, to assist us with our work,” said ECI Task Force member Rizwan Rizwi, Executive Director of Muslim Housing Services.
“Pamela and her team have decades of experience working with diverse communities and implementing plans for an equitable future based on unique and specific goals,” said ECI Task Force member Mahnaz Eshetu, Executive Director of Refugee Women’s Alliance. “I’m looking forward to working together to address Seattle’s historic disparities so that we can quickly invest resources into the impacted communities and improve outcomes for all of our neighbors.”
Oakes will begin working with the ECI Task Force this week to establish timelines and a framework for the work ahead. This work will culminate with the submission of recommendations this spring, that will be used to inform investment in the 2021 Supplemental Budget.
Additional information about the Equitable Communities Initiative and the work of the Task Force can be found at seattle.gov/equitable-communities-initiative.
