Deepening Customer Engagement
How can Washington State Ferries better understand and respond to the experiences of the people who rely on it?
Better process. Better policy. Better outcomes.
Evans Policy Innovation Collaborative
EPIC partners with communities, organizations, and government to design, test, and scale policy innovations for the public good.
200+
Public Leaders trained in Participatory Leadership
10
Public Impact Research Projects Completed
40+
Partner Organizations
Data shows that American trust in the public institutions built to solve shared problems is fading. Amid extreme polarization, entrenched gridlock, and decisions that too often overlook the realities of everyday life, people have lost faith in government, public leaders, and each other.
We didn’t get here by accident. Most public policies are rarely, if ever, evaluated to see whether they actually work. And the gap between research and practice means evidence rarely reaches the rooms where decisions get made or makes space for the voices of those most affected.
This is where EPIC comes in. We build bridges between researchers, public leaders (today’s and tomorrow’s), and the communities living our region’s most pressing challenges. Using human-centered design, we bring different forms of knowledge together—lived experience, technical expertise, and rigorous research—and we ground our work in context to develop durable solutions that make lasting public impact.
What's Possible
We bring people together across traditional boundaries—like between government and community or research and practice—to tackle complex policy challenges in Washington state and beyond.
Applied Research Projects
We partner with organizations to evaluate and address pressing challenges by weaving together rigorous social-science methods and diverse community insights to guide practical improvements and public outcomes.
Collaborative Initiatives
We are an incubator for public innovation around complex public challenges by convening diverse perspectives to define problems, explore possibilities, and test solutions through iterative collaboration.
Public Leader Training & Support
We support capacity building through training and technical assistance for leaders who are seeking to deepen community relationships and foster authentic, effective collaboration.
What Collaboration Can Look Like
Evaluating Phố Đẹp
How can Seattle better understand whether changes in Little Saigon are improving community safety and well-being?
I am not alone in the struggle to rebuild public trust."
2026 Art of Hosting & Harvesting Participant
How We Work
We Make the Table Bigger
We believe better public solutions emerge when research, professional expertise, and live experience are in the room together.
Understand what is happening
Listen, gather evidence, and learn from the people closest to the challenge.
Explore what could be different
Make sense of what we learn, surface possibilities, and develop ideas together.
Try, learn, improve
Test promising approaches, learn from what happens, and adapt.