Meet the Team

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Melissa serves as the Program and Data Manager for AzHAC. Her role includes: prioritizing and overseeing projects; facilitating team meetings; providing mentorship, support, and training to team members; and managing, cleaning, and analyzing incoming data. Her expertise lies in the gap between the data and the service providers. She has served as a data manager and program evaluator for several service provision teams, including shelter networks, refugee resettlement programs, and hospital-based trauma research programs. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she has experience treating individuals and families with significant trauma and those who experienced homelessness, from young children to older adults. This experience provides her a unique perspective into the complexity of service provision data, how to efficiently move evaluation projects from start to finish, and the translation of results to actionable insights.

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Belén is a graduate student, researcher, and data analyst at Northern Arizona University. She has years of experience conducting program evaluation of clinical and housing service data involving vulnerable communities, including trauma-exposed individuals and families, refugees, and homeless populations. In her work, Belén conducts data analytics that are directly informed by the knowledge and experiences of service providers and community stakeholders, thus allowing for her work to translate into actionable insights. In her line of research, Belén examines the psychological impact of trauma at the individual and relational level, with a special focus on early childhood trauma, the intergenerational transmission of trauma in families, and the experiences of male survivors of sexual victimization.

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Valery is a graduate student, bilingual, and first-generation scholar at Arizona State University. She has extensive experience in grassroots organizing, community outreach, and fostering inclusivity. Valery collaborates on solutions for homelessness, and various positions advocating for higher education accessibility and immigrant rights. In her work, Valery organized civic engagement conversations, developed educational curricula on homelessness, and facilitated partnerships to address critical community needs

Robert is a social psychologist and quantitative methodologist whose work focuses on interpersonal processes, health and housing services program development and evaluation, and statistical modeling. His post-doctoral training at the Texas Institute of Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston equipped him with expertise in evaluating multi-site studies and the corresponding analytic strategies. Throughout his career, Robert has been actively involved in program development, implementation, and evaluation with community and government agencies, focusing on behavioral and mental health services, as well as services for individuals and families experiencing housing distress and homelessness.
When not staring deeply into a computer screen, Robert enjoys powerlifting and trail running through the forests around Flagstaff.

Micaela is a quant/qual researcher whose work examines the socio-environmental pathways that contribute to health and mental health disparities among structurally vulnerable populations. This includes understanding and addressing the socio-environmental factors shaped by social systems that exacerbate these disparities, particularly among individuals experiencing housing instability, and historically excluded populations in the Southwest United States. Prior to joining ASU, Dr. Mercado served as the Director of Research at Zone 126 in Astoria, Queens, where she led the organization’s implementation of a cross-system data initiative modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, a transformative collective impact approach. In 2013, she joined New York University as a Research Associate, focusing on translational research and implementation science. Later, Dr. Mercado was appointed Assistant Commissioner at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), overseeing several city-wide initiatives aimed at reducing mental health disparities. After her tenure at DOHMH, she joined Coordinated Behavioral Care, an independent practice association, where she led research efforts to test innovative programs and approaches to improve clinical outcomes for underserved populations.

Shana Ellis, MPA, has 25+ years’ experience in non-profit management in the areas of homelessness, housing, aging, disabilities, fundraising, and incubation of new programs. She currently is Executive Director of ASU’s Action Nexus on Homelessness and Housing, based in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. She also teaches classes in the ASU School of Public Affairs. Additionally, Shana served 8 years on the Tempe City Council, with 2 years serving as Vice Mayor.

Kelsie King is a researcher trained at Northern Arizona University. She completed her Master's in Psychological Sciences and has a background in statistics and program evaluation. She is passionate about prevention work, which aims to treat adversity at the source. Kelsie serves as the Prevention Project Coordinator for AzHAC, which includes overseeing the quantitative, qualitative, and process evaluation arms of the project. She also leads the provider data processing and survey-recruitment aspects of the quantitative arm.

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Dixie Clinkenbeard is a doctoral student in Northern Arizona University’s Interdisciplinary Health program. Her research focuses on homelessness, housing, and healthcare. Dixie has a strong foundation in health promotion, policy analysis, and public health research. Her current research investigates the impact of shelter types on homeless adults' health in Northern Arizona.

Keith Bentele, PhD, is an Associate Research Professor with the Southwest Institute of Research on Women (SIROW) in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology. Dr. Bentele’s research has examined state-level poverty rates, inequality, homelessness, and the generosity and accessibility of various safety-net programs. In addition, Dr. Bentele has extensive experience with evaluation research with a strong focus on systems and programs serving people at-risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. He is currently engaged in research projects examining system performance of the Continuum of Care in Pima County, a project examining homeless encampment resolution strategies in 3 Arizona counties, and is working with the Arizona Housing Analytics Collaborative (AzHAC) team on a project linking Arizona data systems. His specific areas of methodological expertise are in the use of quantitative methods and statistics.

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Jessie Helmes is the Program Evaluator for the Action Nexus on Housing and Homelessness at Arizona State University. In her role, she provides evaluation and assessment support to the housing and homelessness community in Maricopa County. She also teaches classes on cross-sector collaboration and social entrepreneurship in the ASU School of Public Affairs. Jessie’s background includes over a decade in higher education managing internships and mentoring students as they connected classroom learning to real-world application. She brings with her, experience collaborating with community partners to build successful programs and passion for working with underserved populations.

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