By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Neighborcare Health recently announced the appointment of Candace Jackson as its inaugural Chief of Community Engagement.
In this pivotal new role, Jackson will strategically command initiatives aimed at securing and sustaining community and business partnerships, advancing grants and fundraising efforts, shaping policy, and enhancing communication strategies and driving tangible change.
A graduate of Washington State University with a degree in Business Administration and a focus on management and operations, Jackson brings a breadth of experience forging productive, meaningful collaborations.
“I am honored to join the Neighborcare Health team to contribute to inclusive, high-quality healthcare and drive tangible change with the communities we serve,” says Jackson. “Together, we will build upon Neighborcare Health’s legacy, rooted in the civil rights movement, as we strive for one hundred percent access and zero health disparities.
“We are doing, not just talking about, health equity,” added Jackson. “And when I talk about ‘driving tangible change,’ I actually mean shifting the way that we are using resources both internally and externally at Neighborcare,” says Jackson.
Neighborcare Health CEO Rashad A. Collins is confident that Jackson will embody the vision Neighborcare Health has to deliver holistic care to patients.
“With Candace as our new leader in community engagement, Neighborcare Health will accelerate our goals of actively listening to community voices, working in partnership to understand what is needed, and designing responsive solutions to deliver whole-person care,” said Collins.
“Candace’s appointment marks a significant milestone in Neighborcare Health’s journey toward inclusive, high-quality healthcare,” added Collins. “Her proven track record in community engagement and dedication to health equity align seamlessly with our mission to provide comprehensive care that responds sensitively to the needs of our diverse patients and communities.”
Before joining Neighborcare Health, Jackson served as the Director of Health Justice at Pyramid Communications, where she played a pivotal role in initiatives such as the Black Future Co-op Fund’s Black Well-being Report. With over a decade of experience leading initiatives at Public Health – Seattle & King County, Jackson has demonstrated a fierce commitment to holistic well-being.
“I have spent nearly a decade in local public health,” says Jackson. “I have done a fair amount of grass roots in the community and as a consultant have worked with a lot of different organizations and what I can tell you there are a lot of organizations who conceptually want to agree with the concept of equity and health equity specifically. We agree that this should be the outcome.”
In her new capacity, Jackson will collaborate with community partners, businesses, organizations, and staff, committed to advancing Neighborcare Health’s commitment to serving whole-person care and working to shift the conditions that create inequities. By shifting conditions, Jackson is excited to utilize these relationships, working with team members, connecting patients with resources and services, and promoting wellness.
“My position is a strategic one in that I talk about the four legs of the stool that I sit on; each of those four legs has a meaning,” says Jackson. “One leg is our partnerships. The second one is the money, I’m responsible for grants and philanthropic fundraising which goes to support services. Another leg of the stool is policy. And the fourth leg is marketing and communications, outreach making sure the message is clear.”
“We care about making sure our patients have everything they need,” Jackson assures. “Not just the care and services that we provide. We have a team of outreach folks, and we have folks in our clinics thinking about how do we connect patients to resources like the Urban League, the YWCA, to reproductive health. How do we get people connected to these organizations that can provide these services so that they are well all the way around?”
