CHPRMS 53rd Annual Conference - DO NOT USE

What happens when community engagement is treated not as outreach, but as infrastructure?In this keynote, Austen
Williams, MPA, shares a multi-state case study on transforming health and social care technology from a passive directory
into an active care ecosystem. Drawing on more than a decade of cross-sector leadership and community-based
implementation, she explores how values shape systems, how trust shapes adaptation, and how intentional alignment
reduces friction across fragmented landscapes.Through the story of activating The Medi Community Resource Center
across states and sectors, this session examines "the thing behind the thing": the relational and structural conditions that
determine whether tools are merely accessed or fully integrated into community life.Designed for leaders committed to
impact, this keynote reframes community engagement as coordinated design. When dignity is centered, relational capital
is leveraged, and partners align around shared ownership, ecosystems strengthen, and sustainable outcomes
follow.Attendees will leave with a practical framework for determining whether community engagement in their
organizations is assumed or intentionally designed, and how to embed alignment into everyday operations.