The Augustus A. White III Institute

Shaping The Future of Mental Wellness

Building a movement for mental health equity,
through community voice, trust, and action.

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Healing Begins In The Community

Every young person deserves to be seen, heard, and supported.

Young people across the country are facing a mental health crisis unlike anything we have seen before. For young adults of color, the need runs deeper and the gap in care is wider.

How we respond as a society says something about all of us.

We believe that healing begins in community. And change, as history has shown us, begins when people come together and decide that the way things are is not the way they have to be.

Our Vision

The Augustus A. White III Institute for Health Equity envisions a nation where every person, regardless of race, identity, or income, has equitable access to high-quality, culturally grounded health care, including mental health care, and the opportunity to thrive in mind, body, and community.

OUR MISSION

Stigma. Cultural disconnect. Too few clinicians who share the lived experience of the communities they serve.

These are structural problems in need of innovative solutions.

AAWI advances mental health equity for Black and Brown young adults by centering community voice, reducing stigma, and building early, preventive strategies with communities, not for them. Community-led, trust-based, built from the ground up. An approach deeply rooted in what has driven change before.

Learn more about our mental health wellness campaign.

Why Mental Health? Why Now?

Youth mental health has reached emergency levels nationwide. For Black and Brown young adults, the gap between need and access runs even deeper. Too few clinicians reflect the communities they serve, and a fraying safety net is pulling back at precisely the wrong moment.

Our focus on young adults ages 18 to 25 is intentional. Research shows that the majority of mental health conditions first emerge before age 25, often during the very years when young people are transitioning out of school-based support systems and into adulthood without a safety net. For young people of color, this period carries added weight. It is when the effects of racial trauma, economic pressure, and limited access to culturally grounded care tend to converge.

Reaching young people during this time, before crisis takes hold, is where prevention can have the greatest impact. When young people feel disconnected from care, that is not indifference. It is a reasonable response to systems that were not built for them.

Of young adults ages 18 to 25 experienced mental illness in 2024

Black adults vs. White adults going without mental health treatment, with the same symptoms and the same need

Increase in suicide rates among Black youth ages 10 to 19 since 2019, now surpassing White peers for the first time

Of U.S. psychologists are White. Only 3% are Black. Only 7% are Hispanic.

1. Sources: NAMI/SAMHSA (2024); KFF (2019); CDC (2018–2022); APA (2019)

COMMUNITY
HEALTH FORUMS

We are planning to launch a series of community mental health wellness forums across Greater Boston, starting in communities where the need is greatest and where we have built strong relationships.

We are not doing this alone. A Strategic Advisory Committee comprised of clinicians, mental health practitioners, and trusted community leaders is helping us design these forums, bringing expertise in mental health and community practice to ensure the conversations are safe, culturally grounded, and effective.

Young adults ages 18 to 25, caregivers, and trusted community partners will gather in spaces focused on prevention and early dialogue, not clinical treatment or crisis intervention.

What we hear will shape everything that follows. Forums come first. Tools, storytelling campaigns, and digital innovation will be shaped by what communities tell us they need.

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Augustus A. White, III, MD Champion for Equity in Medicine.

"I have always believed that the measure of a physician, and of a society, is how we treat those who have the least access to care."

Augustus A. White, III, MD

Dr. Augustus A. White III trained and practiced during the Civil Rights Movement and spent his career proving that excellence and equity are the same thing. His lifelong commitment to dignity, representation, and equity in healthcare is the foundation on which this Institute stands.

We carry his legacy forward, guided by a vision that is larger than any single initiative.

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What Makes AAWI Unique?

The people who guide this work come from different paths. Medicine and business, education and community health, technology and storytelling. But they arrive at the same place.

The mental health crisis facing Black and Brown young adults demands more than a program.

It demands a movement.

These conversations are happening. But not this way, and not together. AAWI creates the conditions for that movement by convening conversations across sectors that rarely work together, breaking down the silos that keep good intentions from becoming collective action, and sharing what we learn so that it leads to real change.

We work within a wide network of trusted partners and advisors to move ideas into action. That includes global media collaborators and teams exploring new digital tools to help extend reach and access. Together, we are building a community-informed effort grounded in equity and focused on improving mental health support for those too often left out.

Click here to learn more about our leadership

JOIN US! WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED

Join Our Community

Every movement starts somewhere. This one starts in community, with listening, and with the belief that change is possible when the right group of people decide to build it together. Sign up for updates from the field, insights from our forums, and stories from the community.

STRONG

Together
We Are!