Cross-sector collaborations facilitate critical pathways for addressing social determinants of health and improving the health of populations. Northeastern University and Health Resources in Action (HRiA) received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to conduct research to better understand organizational and financial relationships between healthcare entities and human services organizations, and to identify challenges and opportunities related to cross-sector work. The following products emerged from this work:
- The Nonprofit Human Services Sector: A Brief Primer: This report provides background information on the Human Services sector.
- Resource Database: Literature on The Intersection Of The Healthcare And Human Service Sectors: This searchable database contains recent literature related to healthcare-human services collaboration and can be filtered by key topic areas.
- Developing Healthcare and Human Services Collaborations: This product includes case studies of three promising models for collaboration between the healthcare and human services sectors in Oregon, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, as well as overarching key themes.
- A Review of Healthcare and Human Services Engagement: This final report incorporates major findings from the case studies and from 40 national and state level interviews with health and human services leaders, and offers recommendations for grant-making that influences the healthcare-related human services sector.
Project information and contact:
The principal investigator on this project is Jean Flatley McGuire, PhD, MSPH. Dr. McGuire is a Professor of Practice in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. For information about this project, please email Dr. McGuire at j.mcguire@northestern.edu.

