Hybrid Community Engagement Specialist

at CDC Foundation

• Job title: Community Engagement Specialist
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Mid level, Senior
• Salary: $90,000 - $100,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Location requirements: Hybrid, United States

About the role

• Implementation Specialist managing community health initiatives and partnerships for the Kentucky Rural Health Transformation Program. Leading projects and fostering relationships to enhance crisis response in Eastern Kentucky.

Responsibilities

• Support the rollout of RRR pilot programs in Eastern Kentucky by developing communication materials (i.e., press releases, one-pagers, flyers) to support partner awareness, community understanding, and consistent messaging across RRR components.
• Coordinate with implementation specialists and pilot sites (e.g., ARH Hazard, King’s Daughters) to deliver clear, locally relevant rollout communications that support adoption.
• Nurture strong relationships with key partners across Eastern Kentucky by spending extensive time in communities to establish trust with hospitals, CMHCs, clinical directors, and EMS directors.
• Actively participate in regional coalitions, forums, and workgroups related to rural health and behavioral health; attend standing meetings such as regional healthcare consortiums, mental health advocacy chapter meetings, and EMS regional alliance meetings as RRR’s representative.
• Center lived experience and community voice in RRR design and implementation, including engaging peers, CHWs, individuals with prior crisis episodes, and community-based organizations to inform program design and continuous improvement.
• Build and broker cross‑sector relationships and coalitions to engage diverse community leaders, strengthen trust, address social drivers of health, and support sustainable crisis response efforts.
• Serve as the primary liaison between RRR leadership and local communities by coordinating with state agencies (i.e., Department for Public Health, Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental, and Intellectual Disabilities) to align with statewide initiatives.
• Assess and support partnership/system readiness across pilot communities, including stakeholder alignment, sustainability planning, and community acceptability of program design – with attention to local context, cultural considerations, and network capacity.
• Organize periodic calls or meet-ups for cross-collaboration (i.e., ARH Hazard’s EmPATH unit can share lessons learned with leadership at King’s Daughters as they prepare their own unit).
• Help tailor RRR tools and materials so they are personalized for each, Eastern Kentucky partner; provide feedback to the RRR team on any training or toolkits that may need adjusting for local context.
• Support the integration of RRR services with existing local systems (i.e., work with 911 dispatch centers in Eastern counties to identify and divert calls to community paramedicine teams rather than law enforcement).
• Use regular engagement with communities to spot systemic issues or gaps early and convene the right partners to solve them.
• Maintain an Eastern region dashboard tracking community engagement and local ownership of RRR components, using insights to support evaluation and continuous improvement of all components.
• Conduct debriefs with local teams to learn what’s working and what barriers remain in the Eastern region.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in public health, health administration, social services, technology, or a related field.
• Minimum 3 years of experience leading community engagement, outreach, or relationship-based program implementation, preferably in rural or underserved communities.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust, facilitate partnerships, and engage diverse stakeholders, including community members, service providers, and local leaders.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to track activities, synthesize community input, and adapt approaches based on feedback and local context.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Flexible work hours
• Paid time off
• Remote work options