Julie Atella

Julie has been at Wilder Research for over 15 years and conducts research and evaluation in community safety, mental health, and human trafficking. Her recent work involves studying the effects of incarceration on families, examining public safety equity in communities, and assessing the effectiveness of the Safe Harbor law in combating sexual exploitation.

She leads several research and program evaluation studies and has extensive experience developing logic models, implementing quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, conducting analysis, and disseminating findings. Her clients include government, foundation and community-based organizations.

She serves on the board of NAMI Minnesota and is appointed to the Minnesota Community Supervision Advisory Committee for the Department of Corrections. Julie is also a community faculty member at Metro State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she has taught Program Evaluation, Understanding and Using Research for the Practitioner, and Introduction to Human Services courses. She holds a Master of Arts in criminal justice (Washington State University) and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology/law and society (University of California at Riverside). 

Journal articles

• So, M., Davis, L., Barnes, A. J., Freese, R., Atella, J., & Shlafer, R. J. (2023). Health and care utilization among youth with a history of parental incarceration and homelessness. Families, Systems, & Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000830
• Ruhland, E. L., Davis, L., Atella, J., & Shlafer, R. J. (2019). Externalizing behavior among youth with a current or formerly incarcerated parent. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. doi.org/10.1177/0306624X19855317