What did I learn during the 2025 Partners in Public Health Conference?

This week’s Minnesota Partners in Public Health Conference in Brainerd was a master class in what it means to lead with purpose under pressure. The theme, United in Passion and Purpose, was alive in every hallway conversation, every breakout room, every moment of laughter and truth-telling.

Communication as the Core of Public Health

So many sessions came back to one truth: communication is not an accessory to public health. It is public health.

From the Hennepin County team’s insights on messaging that connects rather than divides, to a grantee and funder showing how storytelling builds trust, and directors from Freeborn County partnering with St Louis County to highlight connection across counties, each reminded us that the work begins and ends with relationships.

Data can show “the new faces” of a community, as in Kandiyohi County, but if local leaders still picture the community as it was 20 years ago, those numbers fall flat. True communication bridges that gap. It helps people see one another again.

Crisis, Creativity, and Connection

Across Minnesota, local public health leaders face shrinking budgets, staffing shortages, and public skepticism. It’s brutal. But amid that tension, I heard something else: creativity.

Leaders are finding lower-cost, high-impact ways to partner and to build trust back by showing up in community, listening, and letting residents tell their own stories of why public health matters.

People don’t want more hoops; they want tools and efficiency that help them serve their neighbors better. They want information to flow both ways, between state and local, policy and practice.

Caring for the Caregivers

Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson (“Dr. PBJ”) opened the conference with a message that hit every heart in the room:

“If you do this work from your heart, you serve other people outside the work. Because you are dependable, you show up, but that costs you something.”

Her keynote, Disrupting Burnout, reminded us that purpose can’t replace rest, and that our worth isn’t measured by our credentials or our capacity to push through.

When was the last time someone asked you, How are you? — and you felt safe enough to tell the truth?

Belonging as the Difference

The closing keynote from Gaelin Elmore tied it all together: grit and resilience matter, but belonging is the real difference between surviving and thriving. Belonging is structural. It’s the framework that makes strategy stick, collaboration sustainable, and courage possible.

A Shared Responsibility

From Scott County, the public health award winner’s reminder that “public health is an investment that saves both dollars and lives,” to conversations about evidence-based policy and civic trust, the message was clear:
Public health isn’t partisan, it’s a shared responsibility. True empathy listens first. And the next few years will test, and define, us.

As I drove home from Brainerd, I felt both the weight and the hope of that truth. Our systems may be strained, but our people, the ones who keep showing up, are extraordinary.

Let’s keep building connection, courage, and belonging into the heart of this work.

#PublicHealth #FreyaAndCo #Leadership #Communication #Collaboration #Belonging #CivicHealth #EmpathyAtWork #Community #SystemsChange #BurnoutPrevention