Evidence Matters

Presented by Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities

The latest event in the Evidence Matters series featured representatives from King County Metro Transit, Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services, and LEO Research Affiliates. Titled “Creating Economic Mobility Through Public Transit,” the event explored the latest research findings related to King County’s income-based approach to transit fares.

A few highlights include the discussion of impacts that affordable access to public transit can have on mobility, employment, access to services, and other health and well-being outcomes for people with low incomes.

More about the Evidence Matters Series

Dating back to August 2021, LEO and King County have been partnering to host a webinar series called Evidence Matters. Each webinar features a panel of experts invested in seeing a better and/or increased use of evidence in decision-making. The series is designed to provide the audience with a deep dive into an aspect of evidence-based policy and/or research and why making evidence-based decisions is key for the success of organizations and governments.

In the fall of 2021, the series began with the What is Impact Evaluation? event on how government and service providers can use impact evaluations to deepen the positive outcomes of their work. The event highlighted LEO’s work as an example of how using impact evaluations helps service providers better understand and share effective policy interventions. The second webinar in the series was Building Great Research-Provider Relationships. Researchers and providers from a variety of projects discussed how sustaining relationships after evaluation results come in supports a cycle of continuous learning. Most recently, The Power of Learning Agendas event covered what learning agendas are, the practical benefits and challenges faced by those with experience using them, and resources and advice on how to start one.

The Evidence Matters series was built on the partnership between LEO and King County with three goals in mind:

First, to build skills and knowledge that support a focus on equitable impact and community outcomes. For example, Diana Epstein, panelist in The Power of Learning Agendas event, notes that “agencies integrate an equity lens into their learning agendas,” which in turn means that equitable impact will help inform the agencies’ decision making.
Second, the partnership creates an opportunity to celebrate successes in evidence-based practice and share challenges. In the Building Great Research-Provider Relationships event, Matthew Freedman and Daniel E. Ho’s Court Appearances project failed to reduce failure-to-appears in criminal courts by eliminating transportation barriers. Nevertheless, the results from the project paves the way for future research on the topic.
Third, the partnership between LEO and King County via the Evidence Matters series builds a community of practice that can learn from each other. King County has forged relationships with researchers from these events through LEO. Such collaborations allow evidence-based research to have a wider influence on policy and the decisions that determine organizations and government’s capacity to support various communities.