Health and welfare outcomes for Black Americans are tied to the societal conditions in which they are born, work, live, and grow. This report on the health and wellness of Black Washingtonians is based on a 2022 community study by the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs (CAAA), as well as state and national level analytics. It is our fourth publication, elevating the voices of the Black people who live in Washington state, and keeping in the forefront the challenges that continue to impact our daily lives.

Defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) conceptual framework is define as “nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. SDoHs are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.

The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (Workforce Board) has led efforts to address recruitment and retention of the behavioral health workforce since 2016. The Behavioral Health Workforce Advisory Committee (BHWAC), a group of stakeholders convened by the Workforce Board since 2016 and formalized by the Legislature in 2021, includes health facility leaders, behavioral health providers, educators, organized labor, not-for-profit organizations, state, tribal, and local government agencies, and many more. The Workforce Board has produced this report, as charged in the 2021 state budget, to assess the progress of recommendations from the Workforce Board’s previous assessments and update actionable policy recommendations.

The Workforce Board contracted with Halcyon Northwest, LLC to assist with collecting feedback from stakeholders, analyzing data, and supporting the development of the final report.