Youth Wellness Zones
Photo courtesy of Renton Innovation Zone Partnership
The Youth Wellness Zone initiative is a place-based, collective-impact approach to create meaningful, positive change in youth mental wellness in Washington state. “Zones,” hyperlocal geographic regions, utilize community expertise and engagement to identify needs and create change in built and social environments, service entities, and local policies. This learning collaborative currently includes four communities: Northeast Spokane (The ZONE at the North East Community Center Association), Yakima Valley Partners for Education, Renton Innovation Zone Partnership, and Greater Parkland (Kids’ Mental Health Pierce County). Each of these zones specifically engage young people in their communities in defining wellness, identifying areas for improvement, and actioning place-based innovation to directly and indirectly improve individual youth mental wellbeing.
Project Partners:
Webinars
View our most recent webinar below:
Supporting Youth Mental Health: Place-Based Solutions for Thriving Communities
Discover how four innovative, community-driven “youth wellness zones” are using place-based strategies to enhance youth mental health across Washington. Wellness zones are designed based on the specific needs and priorities of the local community and promote tailored interventions and expert guidance in youth mental health to address community-specific challenges. Representatives from each zone participated in a panel discussion around long-term strategies to promote and sustain mental health services in the wellness zones. They shared insights on how these zones will serve as models for community-driven approaches to youth mental health in Washington state.
Youth Wellness Zones: Project Check In
In the 2024 legislative session, the state of Washington funded a proviso that supports existing place-based work in four regions across WA: Northeast Spokane, Yakima Valley, Renton, and Greater Parkland. In this webinar, communities will share learnings and updates from the first half of the project. Find out how these regions, also known as zones, approached this project, what youth wellness means to them, and the key learnings they discovered along the way.
Reports & Publications
Evaluation Plan: Measuring Short-Term Impact of Youth Wellness Zones
CoLab. (2025) Evaluation Plan: Measuring Short-Term Impact of Youth Wellness Zones. Seattle, WA
Youth Wellness Zones: Launching a Place-Based Approach to Support Youth Mental Health
CoLab. (2024) Youth Wellness Zones: Launching a Place-Based Approach to Support Youth Mental Health. Seattle, WA
Youth Wellness Zones Project Brief
CoLab. (2024) Youth Wellness Zones as a Strategy to Support Child & Adolescent Mental Health. Seattle, WA