Coco Canary Consulting LLC

Check out my most recent writing on the AEA365 blog titled, "Lessons Learned: Creative Methods, DEAI, and Community Engagement Go Hand-in-Hand." 1. If your project includes engaging with community, consider hiring a community engagement specialist: I have worked on many projects (both as an internal and external evaluator) where engaging with the community was an important element. However, it wasn’t until working with Sully that I learned a valuable lesson: community engagement is an art form, and I am not an expert! With her guidance and community-centric approach, we recruited a community advisory board and nearly 60 community members for our community feedback sessions! Our project went so smoothly compared to other community projects I worked on, and I attribute a lot of it to the expertise and trust a community engagement specialist brings. 2. Art-based methods allow for deeper and more authentic discussion, especially when working in community: Having a community engagement specialist gave me the time and space to fully lean into my expertise—creative evaluation approaches and art-based methods. With the help of poetry and storytelling, we helped participants get into creative and embodied places, which allowed them to give us such rich, heartfelt, and beautiful data. These meetings were also effective thanks to Sully’s connections, such as local simultaneous interpretation contractors (in Spanish and Oromo). 3. If you want to work in community, especially communities of color, you need to do your personal DEAI & self-liberation work: For those who don’t know me, I am a queer white cis-woman with Irish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Scottish ancestry. And something important to note is that all of our participants and community partners were people of color, and a majority were first- or second-generation immigrants for whom English was their second, third, or fourth language. I was often the only white person in the room (Zoom and IRL), and more than once, project partners and community members asked me earnestly why they should trust me. Specifically, because I was a white person from out of town assisting the government in collecting information from them. 5 years ago, being asked that question so directly would have freaked me out. But now, after years of deep personal DEAI work (and therapy!), I could respond honestly, share examples of why they can trust me, and freak out a lot less. Read the full article with my conclusions and rad resources here! https://lnkd.in/gZeMGcN5 #evaluation #ArtBasedMethods #creative #CommunityEngagement

Yesterday, I presented about Creative Evaluation & Community-based Participatory Research to 50+ people at the Visitor Studies Association's 2024 conference. My co-presenter, Sully Moreno, couldn't make it, but she was there in spirit! A few things folks shared with me post-presentation: - It was their favorite presentation of the whole conference! - People loved my energy, vulnerability, and speaking style - It was refreshing to have a presentation that shared both theory & tangible actions for how to conduct an evaluation creatively and with community at its center. - As always, thank you to my teachers and friends: Nora Murphy Johnson, PhD, A. Rafael Johnson, Sandra J. Agustin, Maya Lefkowich, & Jennica Nichols Overall, it was so much fun attending the VSA conference. I made new friends, saw cool local museums I hadn't visited before, and learned a lot from the other presenters. I hope to catch you all at next year's conference! BTW, If you look closely at my water bottle, you see some of my fav stickers. - Waka? Tipi Awa?ya?kapi - Data+Soul (formerly MXM Research Group) - Minnesota 8 (https://minnesota8.org) - Corps That ?? (https://corpsthat.org/) #creativeevaluation #communitybasedparticipatoryresearch #VSA24

Hi community, I'll be presenting at the Visitor Studies Association's Annual Conference on July 18th in St. Paul, MN (the stolen lands of the Dakota people). The talk is titled "Redefine Visitor Studies Using Community Voice: A Creative Evaluation Story." I'll share about the Creative Evaluation & Engagement (CE&E) approach, how it works in practice, and how we integrate arts-based methods into the process. I will also briefly touch on how this work mirrors Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), and how CBPR pairs well with CE&E. I was supposed to give this talk with Sully Moreno, but Sully won't be able to join us IRL. Perhaps, like we did for AEA, we will offer a virtual session for those who aren't attending VSA. Is there interest? Let me know in the comment section! I am also reminded that this is not my first time presenting at VSA. In 2021, Anna Rebecca "AR" Lopez and I led a presentation titled "Centering Community: A Radical Discussion for Change in Visitor Research," which touched on #communitycentricfundraising and #evaluation. <3

Evaluation friends, yesterday I listened to Episode 1 of the May 13th Group's podcast by Vidhya Shanker, PhD, Carolina De La Rosa Mateo, & Nayantara Premakumar. I highly recommend checking it out! It was lovely learning more about Vidhya & Carolina and the May 13th Group's backstory! Below is a blurb from their website. Explore the transformative power of collective action with The May 13 Group Podcast! Join hosts Vidhya and Carolina on an ongoing journey of epistemic healing and revolution in, through, and around knowledge work. Listen today! Learn more at themay13group.net/podcast. For those who are deaf and/or hard-of-hearing, they have an excellent Episode 1 transcript you can find here: https://lnkd.in/guYFEJes #CollectiveAction #EpistemicWholeness #TheMay13Group #podcast #evaluation

Coco Canary Testimonial ??#4: Last week, I had the honor to guest lecture at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School for Public Affairs. Specifically for Kayla Meyers' Program Evaluation class. I touched on topics such as Creative Evaluation & Engagement (CE&E) and Art-based methods. After class, Kayla sent me an unexpected text with the following: “Things you didn’t see that are to be celebrated! I saw a few students engaging and lighting up in ways they hadn’t done as often in previous classes, and I was so excited to see their excitement and engagement.?After you left, two of the groups asked me for an extension [for their evaluation plan assignment] to incorporate some of what you showed them today. Three students stayed after class to hear more and say how much they loved today's class!! Thank you, thank you again, for your time, expertise, and passion.” So sweet, right?! What makes it extra tender is that this was a full-circle moment for me. Meaning, I first learned about CE&E and arts-based methods when Nora Murphy Johnson, PhD lectured for Jean King's theory class back in 2018. I didn't know then, but Nora coming to our class was a pivotal moment for my evaluation career as a Creative Evaluator. Who knows, maybe one of those students will want to become a creative evaluator someday too? :-) Below are the things I touched on during my lecture and the people I should thank for my knowledge and skills in these topics. - I taught about the theory and practice of the Creative Evaluation & Engagement approach. (Thank you, Nora Murphy Johnson, PhD, and A. Rafael Johnson, for creating CE&E and being such great teachers and mentors!) - I explained the how, what, and why of arts-based methods (A. Rafael Johnson & Sandra J. Agustin, thank you for mentoring me on the art of arts-based methods and facilitation techniques). - I then led the students through an art-based methods activity called Found Poetry ??, which the students really enjoyed!? (Thank you, Susan Putnins and Chantal Hoff, for being my first experience with Found Poetry at AEA 2022—the appreciative question I asked the class was inspired by the one you used during your workshop, and the image I used in the slide is from your session! Thank you, Maya Lefkowich & Jennica Nichols, for taking me deeper into the theory and practice of Found Poetry through your virtual arts-based methods workshops. - Shoutout to Carolee Dodge Francis and Nicole Bowman, PhD (Mohican/Lunaape)'s article "Rooted in Perpetuity: Weaving grandfather teachings as an ongoing journey for CRE, IE, and evaluators," which we used for our activity! Interested in learning more about my work? Check out my website, https://cococanary.com/, and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter! Do you have a project in mind that you think I’d be a good fit for? Email me at [email protected] or fill out the contact form on my website. I’d love to hear more about it! #creative #evaluation #lecture #art #methods

Coco Canary Testimonial ??#4: Last week, I had the honor to guest lecture at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School for Public Affairs. Specifically for Kayla Meyers' Program Evaluation class. I touched on topics such as Creative Evaluation & Engagement (CE&E) and Art-based methods. After class, Kayla sent me an unexpected text with the following: “Things you didn’t see that are to be celebrated! I saw a few students engaging and lighting up in ways they hadn’t done as often in previous classes, and I was so excited to see their excitement and engagement.?After you left, two of the groups asked me for an extension [for their evaluation plan assignment] to incorporate some of what you showed them today. Three students stayed after class to hear more and say how much they loved today's class!! Thank you, thank you again, for your time, expertise, and passion.” So sweet, right?! What makes it extra tender is that this was a full-circle moment for me. Meaning, I first learned about CE&E and arts-based methods when Nora Murphy Johnson, PhD lectured for Jean King's theory class back in 2018. I didn't know then, but Nora coming to our class was a pivotal moment for my evaluation career as a Creative Evaluator. Who knows, maybe one of those students will want to become a creative evaluator someday too? :-) Below are the things I touched on during my lecture and the people I should thank for my knowledge and skills in these topics. - I taught about the theory and practice of the Creative Evaluation & Engagement approach. (Thank you, Nora Murphy Johnson, PhD, and A. Rafael Johnson, for creating CE&E and being such great teachers and mentors!) - I explained the how, what, and why of arts-based methods (A. Rafael Johnson & Sandra J. Agustin, thank you for mentoring me on the art of arts-based methods and facilitation techniques). - I then led the students through an art-based methods activity called Found Poetry ??, which the students really enjoyed!? (Thank you, Susan Putnins and Chantal Hoff, for being my first experience with Found Poetry at AEA 2022—the appreciative question I asked the class was inspired by the one you used during your workshop, and the image I used in the slide is from your session! Thank you, Maya Lefkowich & Jennica Nichols, for taking me deeper into the theory and practice of Found Poetry through your virtual arts-based methods workshops. - Shoutout to Carolee Dodge Francis and Nicole Bowman, PhD (Mohican/Lunaape)'s article "Rooted in Perpetuity: Weaving grandfather teachings as an ongoing journey for CRE, IE, and evaluators," which we used for our activity! Interested in learning more about my work? Check out my website, https://cococanary.com/, and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter! Do you have a project in mind that you think I’d be a good fit for? Email me at [email protected] or fill out the contact form on my website. I’d love to hear more about it! #creative #evaluation #lecture #art #methods

Coco Canary Testimonial ??#3: “I hope future projects always have a community feedback session. That was the best part. Even if it was hard to hear what they were saying, it was eye-opening. Creating that space for the community where they can tell us what they think. That would be something I want to see in future projects.” — a client from Public Heath - Seattle & King County (PHSKC). I couldn’t agree more with the above quote because I feel the same way. I had done community feedback sessions before, but this one felt different because it was the first time I collaborated with a Community Engagement Specialist (shoutout to Sully Moreno from Culture Shift Consulting)! And if there is one thing I learned from this project, it is that moving forward, I will ALWAYS collaborate with a community engagement specialist for projects in and with the community. Why? Because as an evaluator, you are expected to wear many hats, and one I have worn before, but it felt way too heavy, was community engagement. This hat requires so much coordination because working with community is heart-led and requires patience. So, when I am also expected to be a strategist, data analyst, project manager, writer, artist coordinator, etc, it is not surprising that it gets overwhelming! If tax dollars fund your organization and/or your services directly impact community, then you should always consider a community feedback session when conducting an evaluation. Make sure you hire an evaluation firm that collaborates with community engagement specialists or has trained community engagement professionals on staff. Interested in learning more about my work? Check out my website, https://cococanary.com/, and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter! Do you have a project in mind that you think I’d be a good fit for? Email me at [email protected] or fill out the contact form on my website. I’d love to hear more about it! [Image Description: Sully and Molly smiling at the camera. Sully is holding a poster paper with participant feedback handwritten in Spanish.] #creative #evaluation #facilitation #communityengagement #friendship #testimonial #publichealth

tl;dr: Missed Sully and I's Creative Evaluation & Engagement virtual presentation? You can watch the recording on Coco Canary's Youtube! https://lnkd.in/gYJcx8kf ---- Last year, Sully Moreno and I gave two presentations about a Creative Evaluation & Engagement project we did with Public Heath - Seattle & King County. One was in October at the 2023 American Evaluation Association Conference in Indianapolis (we filled the room!!), and the other was a virtual presentation in November (40 people showed up!). We recorded the virtual presentation, and it available to watch on Coco Canary's Youtube channel: https://lnkd.in/gYJcx8kf What you'll learn from watching the video: - What the Creative Evaluation & Engagement approach is - How two arts-based methods were used to collect data (Found Poetry and Storytelling) - How community advisory groups and local artists helped with the design, implementation, and data playback - The importance of bringing in a Community Engagement Specialist into any evaluation process that wants community involvement and input If videos aren't your thing, Coco Canary has a Creative Evaluation resources webpage. You'll find PDFs of Case Studies, PowerPoint slides, videos, and more: https://lnkd.in/g2EaiPyf I have a few 2024 projects brewing, and a couple of exciting project leads, but don't hesitate to reach out if you have a project in mind where CE&E could be a good fit! <3 Molly