This full-time, term-limited role is part of the Rural Health Transformation RCH initiative that the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky (FHKY) serves as a primary partner on.
The Rural Community Hub Communications Lead serves as an advisor and technical resource to Rural Community Hubs under the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). This role supports consistent and effective communications across multiple Hubs, adapting to the unique context of each community. Initially, the Communications Lead will support Hub activation and roll-out activities, helping Hubs stand up their communications functions and establish locally grounded messaging. Over time, the role shifts to focus on strengthening shared communications approaches, promoting consistency across Hubs while maintaining flexibility for local adaptation.
Why This Role Matters: This role offers the opportunity to help transform how communities support well-being by changing how we communicate about it. Diabetes and obesity are among the most persistent and costly drivers of poor health in rural Kentucky, yet evidence-based prevention approaches are often fragmented, inconsistently applied, or difficult to adapt to local realities. This role exists to help change that.
The Communications Lead plays a critical role in ensuring that information about Hub initiatives is clear, accurate, and usable for local community members and across community-based organizations. By helping Hubs translate complex concepts into accessible, locally relevant messaging—and by supporting consistency without undermining trust—this role helps communities understand, access, and engage with available resources and services.
This role is primarily remote, with occasional travel to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's office in Louisville and periodic travel across Kentucky.
Your Responsibilities will include:
Communications and Content Development Advisory:
- Serve as a trusted advisor to Hub leaders on communication strategies that balance consistency, clarity, accuracy, and local relevance
- Support Hub Lead Organizations in developing initial communications plans aligned with their local initiatives and collective activities
- Support Hub Lead Organizations and staff in communicating clearly and consistently about Hub initiatives across diverse local contexts
- Advise on adherence to RHTP-wide communication guidelines and standards while allowing Hubs the flexibility to communicate in ways that maintain trust and authenticity
- Guide teams in navigating communication tradeoffs (e.g., clarity vs. precision, consistency vs. local adaptation)
Communications and Stakeholder Management:
- Support development and refinement of communication approaches, tools, and templates for Hub initiatives
- Help adapt communications materials to reflect local cultures, service landscapes, and community needs
- Bring together diverse perspectives, inputs, and content to assist Hubs in producing cohesive, high-quality communications materials
- Engage and incorporate stakeholder perspectives from across the state to inform messaging, strengthen relevance, and promote alignment across diverse regional contexts
- Ensure that communications content gets necessary approvals and manages the review/approval process
Collaboration and Knowledge Translation:
- Coach partners--including public health professionals and clinicians--in developing and disseminating effective communications
- Translate complex health, policy, and program information into plain language that is accessible to community members
- Facilitate coordination across multiple content contributors to develop consistent communications outputs
- Support teams working across settings by managing workflows, aligning inputs, and maintaining clarity across stakeholders
- Lead the “people side” of communications—including alignment, clarity, and effective collaboration across contributors
Your Background:
- Bachelor’s degree in communications, public health, journalism, education, or a related field
- 5-10 years of experience in public health communications, health education, community health, journalism, technical writing, or related fields
- Experience supporting communication efforts within complex, multi-stakeholder environments
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messaging for different audiences
- Experience working with data, research, or policy content and translating it into actionable communications
What you bring:
- Experience adapting messaging for different audiences and local contexts
- Ability to balance clarity, accuracy, and trust when communicating complex or ambiguous information
- Strong coordination and project management skills, with the ability to guide work across multiple contributors simultaneously
- Ability to synthesize diverse inputs into clear, cohesive communications
You are good at:
- Strategic Communication: Guiding teams to communicate clearly, consistently, and effectively across varied contexts
- Translation and Simplification: Making complex health, policy, and program information understandable, relevant, and actionable Rural Community Hub Communications Lead
- Coordination: Managing multiple contributors and aligning inputs to produce high-quality communications materials
- Audience Awareness: Adapting messaging to local cultures and service environments while maintaining consistency
- Comfort with Complexity: Communicating uncertainty, limitations, and tradeoffs with transparency and clarity
About the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky:
We are:
- A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on addressing the unmet health needs of Kentuckians by influencing health policy, improving access to care, reducing health risks and disparities, and promoting health equity.
- Our Priority areas are health access and children’s health improvement.
- Data-driven and research-based.
- Funded by an endowment.
- A team of dynamic individuals with a passion for improving the health and quality of life of Kentuckians.
We offer:
- Competitive benefits, including paid health, dental and vision insurance, term life insurance, short-term/long-term disability coverage, opportunity to participate in a 401(k) retirement plan with Foundation contributions, vacation days and sick leave.
- Salary commensurate with experience.
- A flexible working environment, with a well-appointed office in eastern Jefferson County, Ky., and the ability to create a hybrid in-office/work-from-home combination.
- In-person attendance at Louisville office required for key meetings and events. Periodic travel throughout Kentucky may be required to support meetings and events. Access to reliable transportation necessary.
Equal Opportunity Employer: It is the policy of the Foundation to provide equal opportunity in employment to all employees and applicants for employment. No person will be discriminated against in employment or promotion because of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal or state law.
How To Apply: Interested and qualified candidates should send an email as a cover letter with “RCH Communications Lead” in the subject line and attach a resume to [email protected]. No phone calls please. Position open until filled.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Louisville, KY 40223
