MCW's Office of Community Engagement hosted their fall conference on Thursday, November 1, 2018. The conference kicked off with keynote speaker, Becca Berkey, PhD, Director of Service-Learning at Northeastern University, speaking on "Building and Sustaining a Culture of Engagement: The Role of Individuals as a Creative Catalyst for Professional Development and Institutional Change." Attendees explored how community engagement provides opportunities for developing leadership potential, as good leaders and effective community-engaged professionals share many of the same qualities. During the Community Engagement Fall Conference, attendees explored these commonalities across the community-academic partnership spectrum.

The 2017 MCW Community Engagement Week included almost 700 unique attendees through the week’s events, our greatest attendance so far. The week’s accomplishments included building a greater awareness of social determinants of health that have significant impact in our communities. Panel discussions, a world café session, volunteer sandwich-making event and active workshops helped to raise community voices and perspectives, and provided opportunities to engage directly with community organizations, and to participate in rich discussion around issues where we can work to make a greater impact.