Updates from the kNEWjoy pilot program

Emergence Collective is proud to serve as the learning partner for kNEWjoy, which helps organizations that serve young adults improve their reach and impact by developing and promoting wellness programs sensitive to age, community, culture, gender, and race. The following overview appeared in kNEWjoy's April 2026 newsletter and has been reposted with permission.

Dr. Ramona Perry, Ebonie Guyton, and Remby Perry. Captured at the 2025 HBU Ambassador Graduation

Santinio Jones, the Behavioral Health Program Manager at Packard Health and program coordinator  for  Healing Brothers United, sat down with Lee Van Roth at WEMU 89.1 to discuss Black men's mental health and the support HBU provides for Black men and boys in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. Santinio mentioned how HBU came to fruition after Packard Health started working with KNEWjoy’s founder and board chair, Dr. Daphne Watkins:

“Yes, yes. So, the program actually pre-dates me. It started back in 2021 with Packard Health, and the non-profit KNEWjoy, run by Dr. Daphne Watkins, came on board and started a collaboration.” You can read or listen to Santinio’s full interview with WEMU 89.1 here. 

Emergence Collective, a Michigan consulting firm, was brought in to help Packard Health and KNEWjoy’s pilot program well before it blossomed into Healing Brothers United. Dr. Ramona Perry, the project lead, and her team have known about the program for some time. 

“It started with KNEWjoy as a catalyst.” 

During the ideation phase, Dr. Perry and her team members, Ebonie Guyton and Remby Perry, spent time with KNEWjoy learning about the background and the context for the work that we are doing. KNEWjoy provided them with context to anchor their efforts in.

During a recent survey and focus group Emergence Collective conducted with the ambassadors, they discovered that one of the main things that supports the ambassadors feeling connected and confident is the relationships they have with each other and with Santinio. Under his leadership, they have already run some great programs and have found new opportunities. Most recently, HBU assisted in the Ann Arbor chapter of the NAACP in forming a relationship with Packard Health. 

The group is constantly exploring new partnerships. It’s only been a few months since the last cohort graduated and became ambassadors, and HBU has since developed their own mission statements and informational materials. According to Emergence Collective, they function independently and strongly. 

The group is excited to gain more visibility among young people through partnerships with the schools. 

They knew that the evaluation work would be multi-fold. Although one of their goals was to build a strong record of the program over time, they also set out to understand the impact of the ambassador program on both the ambassadors and the communities they serve.

As noted in our September 2025 Newsletter, the Black men’s mental health program was developed under the guidance of KNEWjoy, in collaboration with Santinio. Santinio meets with the HBU ambassadors biweekly for training, catch-ups, inter-group support, and event planning. Emergence Collective had the chance to see firsthand the type of close-knit relationships that have formed within the group and how important those relationships have been for the cohorts. 

Graduate student and Emergency Collective team member, Remby Perry, has been attending HBU meetings both virtually and in-person. Dr. Perry made sure that a Black man would be the one evaluating the group and interacting with the men of HBU. She recognized the importance of having Remby embedded into the group from the very beginning. Remby (pictured on the very right in the photo above) actually met the ambassadors for the very first time during their graduation ceremony in the fall of 2025.

Dr. Perry referred to HBU as being in their “takeoff stage.”  One thing that surprised Dr. Perry was how close these men have become in a short period of time. 

“The reality is that this project would not work if not for the strong relationships that these men have with each other.”  Dr. Perry is no stranger to how difficult it can be to get Black men to feel comfortable pursuing various types of mental health support and be vulnerable. She credits Santinio’s ability to encourage the men and create a safe space. 

“My hope is that I see them becoming more visible and I see them being able to galvanize support for the work, and black men, around the importance of mental health. The goal of the program is to support men coming into Packard Health to get care. As they become more visible and trusted, I do see them being able to make that happen.”