We are in a complicated and evolving moment in complex care. Years of investment in our health and social care ecosystems have finally begun yielding meaningful results, only to be put under threat by draconian Medicaid cuts and federal policies hostile to our communities. This October 14-16, leaders, front-line providers, and advocates from across complex care will gather in Oakland, CA for our annual conference Putting Care at the Center, co-hosted by Kaiser Permanente. This year’s theme, Sustaining progress, building our future, builds naturally on our 2025 theme, Meeting the moment, by inviting us to reflect not only on what lies ahead, but what must be protected and strengthened along the way.

As Camden Coalition’s President and CEO Kathleen Noonan reflected, sustaining progress begins with holding onto the broader vision of health the field has worked hard to build.

For Kathleen, sustaining progress means maintaining both expanded coverage and an expanded understanding of where and how health happens. Recognizing that health is shaped not only in clinical settings, but across communities and social systems. Building the future is not about starting over, it is about ensuring that hard-won advances continue to evolve rather than erode. Across conversation with partners, a shared message emerged: sustaining progress is not about maintaining the status quo – it is about protecting meaningful gains while adapting to a rapidly changing landscape together.

Sustaining progress in uncertain times

For many organizations, sustaining progress begins with sustainability itself. Melinda Karp, CEO of the Center to Advance Community Partnership described the reality facing many mission-driven organizations today: navigating financial and policy uncertainty while continuing to serve communities.

Beyond organizational survival, she emphasized that sustaining progress increasingly depends on collaboration. With resources tightening across sectors, working in silos is no longer viable. Collaboration is not simply beneficial, it’s essential to maintaining and accelerating progress.

Helen Mittmann, Senior Research Associate at Funders Forum on Accountable Health, echoed this perspective from the vantage point of multi-sector partnerships. Policy shifts and funding constraints are placing strain on state and local systems, making it even more important to protect the infrastructure communities have built together over time. She noted that sustainability comes not from a single strategy, but from flexibility, long-term investment, and continuous learning from the field.

Centering lived experience and community leadership

Another consistent theme is the importance of community voice and lived experience. Melinda emphasized that engagement of people with lived experience is often the first area to be scaled back when resources become scarce, despite it being more necessary than ever. Individuals navigating complex health and social needs make difficult trade-offs every day and bring expertise that systems cannot replicate through professional training alone.

Helen similarly highlighted that genuine community engagement has become foundational to systems change. Transformation happens when communities help shape governance, vision, and resource decisions, not when engagement is treated as an advisory exercise.

Vanessa Davis, Director at Kaiser Permanente, this year’s co-host, noted that the field has evolved from discussing social drivers of health conceptually to integrating them into day-to-day operating models. Meaningful engagement with patients and communities is no longer a check-the-box activity. It is central to designing solutions that work.

Across sectors, leaders agreed that building the future requires shifting power as well as perspective. Community members and people with lived experience must be decision makers, not just participants.

Collaboration as collective leadership

If sustaining progress depends on partnership, building the future depends on how those partnerships function. Melinda described the need for collective leadership, where organizations move from competition to collaboration – adapting  to lead when appropriate, support others when needed, and remain committed to shared goals.

LaKeesha Dumas, Founder of None Left Behind, highlighted that meaningful collaboration requires intentional relationship-building among organizations across sectors. Healthcare providers, community-based organizations, and social service agencies each bring different expertise, and progress depends on creating structures where those perspectives can shape decisions together.

Vanessa described collaboration in concrete terms. It is shared governance meetings, aligned contracts, data sharing agreements, and sustained investment in community partners. Building the future together is less about grand ideas and more about consistent, coordinated work, built on evidence and proven practices. By grounding our efforts in data-driven approaches and lessons learned from past initiatives, we can ensure that progress is meaningful, measurable, and sustainable.

Building our future together

Across every conversation, one idea stood out: no single organization or sector can meet today’s challenges alone. Whether discussing collective leadership, community-driven partnerships, or whole-person health, partners returned to the same conclusion. Progress depends on shared responsibility and shared ownership.

Building our future means aligning healthcare systems, community-based organizations, public health agencies, policymakers, and community members around common goals. It requires trust and a willingness to rethink how work gets done.

At a time of uncertainty, the theme Sustaining progress, building our future reflects both realism and optimism. The field has learned what works, the challenge now is protecting those gains while continuing to evolve.

This October in Oakland, CA, Putting Care at the Center will bring together the people doing this work every day to share lessons, strengthen partnerships, and explore how we move forward together.