Grantee: Harborview Medical Center
Timeframe: July 2024 – June 2027 | Amount: $600,000
- Year 1: July 2024 – June 2025 | Amount: $200,000
- Year 2: July 2025 – June 2026 | Amount: $200,000
- Year 3: July 2026 – June 2027 | Amount: $200,000
Grant funds support Harborview Medical Center’s Youth Clinic, which provides low-barrier medical and behavioral healthcare for youth and young adults ages 12–26 experiencing homelessness or unstable housing. With PHPDA support, Harborview expanded from 5–6 to 16 half-day clinics per month across two community-based locations in the University District and South King County. The clinic now operates four half-day clinics each week, including psychiatric services, improving access to care for young people who face significant barriers to traditional healthcare.
The Youth Clinic operates in the University District and Auburn. In the University District, services are co-located at the University District Youth Center (UDYC), which provides drop-in services, food access, counseling, and case management for more than 100 unduplicated youth each month. In Auburn, the clinic partners with the YMCA Social Impact Center, located near shelter and transitional housing programs. This site helps address the shortage of healthcare resources for unstably housed youth in South King County.
The clinic uses a trauma-informed, harm reduction approach by embedding primary care, behavioral healthcare, medication management, care coordination, financial counseling, referrals, and access to Harborview specialty services within trusted youth-serving organizations. This model reduces barriers such as transportation, scheduling, lack of insurance, mistrust of healthcare systems, and competing survival needs.
Patient feedback is gathered through focus groups, anonymous surveys, and compensated questionnaires to ensure services remain responsive, culturally relevant, and grounded in lived experience.
During Years 1 and 2, Harborview strengthened clinic operations and refined its behavioral health model to better complement partner services. Harborview has shifted its behavioral health focus to psychiatric care, the community’s highest unmet need. Recruitment is underway for a psychiatric advanced practice provider and psychiatrist.
Harborview has increased practice provider capacity to support expanded clinic operations, partnership coordination, outreach, provider onboarding, and new clinical infrastructure. The team launched patient incentives, expanded assistance for prescription costs and other medically necessary items, and is completing on-site blood draw stations to improve continuity of care.
In Year 3, Harborview will focus on fully staffing psychiatric positions, completing blood draw station implementation, and strengthening long-term operations at the University District Youth Center. These improvements will support more consistent, integrated medical and behavioral healthcare for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.
ABOUT OUR GRANTEE
Harborview Medical Center
“Harborview Medical Center is a comprehensive healthcare facility dedicated to providing specialized care for a broad spectrum of patients from throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the most vulnerable residents of King County.
The UW Medicine physicians, staff and other healthcare professionals based at Harborview provide exemplary patient care in leading-edge centers of emphasis, including emergency medicine, trauma and burn care; neurosciences, ophthalmology, vascular surgery, HIV/AIDS and rehabilitation medicine.
Patients given priority for care include the non-English speaking poor; the uninsured or underinsured, victims of domestic violence or sexual assault; people incarcerated in King County’s jails; people with mental illness or substance abuse problems, particularly those treated involuntarily; people with sexually transmitted diseases; and those who require specialized emergency, trauma or burn care.
Harborview Medical Center is owned by King County, governed by a county-appointed board of trustees and managed under contract by the University of Washington. The medical center plans and coordinates with Public Health Seattle and King County, other County agencies, community providers, and area hospitals, to provide programs and services.”
