On Demand: Kjestine Woods on Building Resilient, Inclusive Rural Communities

How can we bridge the gap between community identified needs and available resources?

On Sept. 24, KHI hosted the Health on the Plains Coffee Hour with a conversation featuring Kjestine Woods, Program Officer, National Health Program, at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). This session explored the role Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) can play in building resilient, inclusive rural communities through strong partnerships and innovative strategies to strengthen access to foundational resources for health, including healthy housing, primary care and nutritious food. The event was also promoted with Kjestine’s colleague, Nadia Villagrán, Vice President of LISC and Director of Rural LISC, and we are pleased to share her bio below to highlight her work.

Note: The recording has been lightly edited for clarity due to minor technical and audio issues. The content and context of the conversation remain unchanged.

Featured Speakers

Nadia Villagrán, LISC Vice President, Rural LISC Director, Local Initiatives Support Corporation 

Nadia Villagrán joined the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing community development work in communities across the country, in January 2017 as a Program Director providing broad oversight and input for LISC’s national program Rural LISC. Since January 2024, Nadia has been leading the team of 20+ toward the group’s mission of working with residents and partners to support resilient and inclusive rural communities as they become great places to live, work and innovate. An experienced community and economic development leader, Nadia works closely with LISC leadership to oversee the administrative, financial and programmatic strategies of Rural LISC to expand, grow and fortify the rural network of more than 150 partners, allies and collaborators. Nadia has more than 20 years of experience in community development, fund raising and communications. Nadia credits her commitment to nonprofit management, community development and affordable housing to having watched her parents build their family home in southern Arizona when she was 6 years old. Her parents joined their neighbors to build their home and that of their neighbors utilizing the USDA-Rural Development Mutual Self-Help program. 

Kjestine Woods, M.H.A., C.H.E.S., Program Officer, National Health Program, Local Initiatives Support Corporation 

Kjestine is the Program Officer for LISC’s National Health Program, focusing on managing grants, partnerships and program implementation. She has experience in grantmaking, healthcare services, government relations and grassroots advocacy in non-profit and for-profit organizations. Before LISC, Kjestine worked in cancer prevention in Illinois and Washington D.C., focused on cancer research funding, health education, advocacy and patient services. 

Kjestine is a certified health education specialist, a returned public health Peace Corps Volunteer and the co-director for the Colorado Public Health Association’s Public Health in the Rockies conference. She has bachelor’s degrees in health promotions and fine arts minor from Purdue University and a master’s in health care administration and strategic leadership from the University of Denver. She grew up in rural New Mexico and Indiana and currently resides in Colorado.