This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, evaluates the feasibility of the Youth Wellness Hub as a hyper-local community governance model for integrating delivery and financing systems for youth behavioral health and wellness services.  The Youth Wellness Hub combines three social policy tools that are separately promising or well-supported in the research literature: community governance; public health education campaigns; and service network coordination through fiscal blending.  The study uses a mixed-methods approach to assess feasibility of the model as tested in Tacoma, Washington, including surveys and interviews with community organizations together with a network analysis of these organizations.  The study is conducted by the University of Washington in collaboration with the Excelsior Center for Health and Wellness, the Safe Streets Coalition, and other community partners.  

Principal Investigators

• Sarah Walker, PhD, Research Associate Professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Washington
   

Co-Investigators

• Pamela Collins, MD, MPH, Professor, Chair, Dept of Mental Health, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins

• Matthew Kelley, Ph.D., Co-Investigator and Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma

Additional Collaborators

• Tyler McCormick,PhD Associate Professor University of Washington Dept. of Sociology
• Jerald R Herting, PhD, Professor University of Washington Dept of Sociology
• Anna Tresidder, PhD, Senior Vice-President Operations Excelsior Wellness
• Andrew Hill, MS Chief Executive Officer Excelsior Wellness
• Ryan Kiely, President Excelsior Wellness
• Priscilla Lisicich, PhD  Community organizer
• Nora Flemming de Sandoval, EdD Executive Director Safe Streets
• McKenna Parnes, PhD Post-Doctoral Research Fellow University of Washington Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
• Derrick Wheeler Smith, Director, Office for Civil Rights, City of Seattle
• Benjamin Danielson, MD, Director AHSHAY Center, University of Washington