The “3 E’s” Framework: Empower, Engage, & Evaluate

The LEAG knows that system imrpovement is a long-term goal and that capacity-building activities require coordinated strategies and intense collaboration. To support the urgency of these efforts, the LEAG offers a “3 E’s” framework of thinking to simplify and focus the work:

1. Empower
   Elevate the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness to identify gaps and solutions. Encourage them to lead personal, local, and systemic change initiatives. Ensure they are protected against any efforts to work against their feedback.
2. Engage
   Collaborate with key stakeholders to invest in proven solutions strategically. Analyze where current services create inefficient duplications or inadvertent gaps in order to prioritize limited resources. Make decisions about priorities, funding, and other assets with as many partners as possible to increase buy-in as well as leverage available resources.
3. Evaluate
   Develop clear metrics for success that center the feedback from people with lived experience. Target data collection, communications, training, and investments to drive specific program and system improvements. Create accountability and use metrics to evaluate programs, allocate funding, and tailor technical assistance offered to partners.

Throughout this report, the LEAG applied the “3 E’s” when assessing the ESG program components identified above: street outreach, emergency shelter, and housing supports. This framework drives the LEAG’s recommendations toward the goal of transforming Colorado’s homelessness response system to align with the needs and priorities of those DOH strives to serve. These recommendations are not an exhaustive list of all actions needed to overcome decades of social and economic disparity, but a summary of ideas and solutions about improving ESG. As LEAG moves forward, it will continue to compel DOH to ask: How can we empower people experiencing homelessness? How can we engage with partners to enhance programs? And how do we evaluate the impact of the resources to know that the investment was a good one?