Evaluation of partner collaboration to improve community-based mental health services for low-income minority children and their families

•A mixed methods approach is used to evaluate partner agency collaboration in a system of care.•Evaluation results are used to improve the implementation of mental health services.•Perception of collaboration differs by agency type and the respondent's role within the agency.•The collaborative process can be improved through stakeholder engagement.

This paper describes a mixed methods evaluation of partner agency collaboration within a system of care implemented from 2010 to 2012 in a historically underserved minority community in Houston, Texas. The first section describes the project and the framework for evaluating partner agency collaboration. The second section describes the evaluation methods and presents the baseline and follow-up results of the evaluation. The third section includes a discussion of the evaluation findings, the conclusion, and the lessons learned.