Josue Lachica

Josue Lachica, MA, comes to the Meadows Institute with over 18 years of experience working in both the non-profit sector and research/evaluation with a focus on improving outcomes for marginalized populations including homeless youth and young adults, transition aged foster youth, human trafficking survivors, and transnational populations. He has worked in various communities including Denver, Austin, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez where he expanded support services and integrated system level change to better serve marginalized and hidden populations.

Prior to joining the Paso del Norte Center, Josue was a Division Director at the El Paso Center for Children where he spearheaded program development that integrated a continuum of care approach that provides community wide commitment with the goal of ending youth homelessness. Previously, Josue served as Project Director & Principal Investigator in a multi-site collaboration seeking to evaluate specialized approaches to building and promoting protective factors to reduce risk and create optimal outcomes for children, youth, and families. He worked closely with communities across the country in developing a frame work to evaluate interventions and outcomes that led to direct policy change at the Children’s Bureau. Josue maintains a strong commitment to supporting the homeless community as a board member of the El Paso Coalition for the Homeless.

In his role at the Meadows Institute, Josue works with the Paso del Norte Center Executive Director and Paso del Norte Health Foundation leading projects and supporting regional behavioral health improvement efforts as a neutral partner to; promote emotional well-being, reduce stigma and negative bias associated with mental illness and substance use, and increase coordination and collaboration among regional behavioral health partner organizations and stakeholders.

Josue maintains close ties to his alma mater as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He earned his master’s degree in Sociology and his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The University of Texas at El Paso. He resides in El Paso with his wife Alyssa and their two dogs.