The CDC Listening Project is designed to:

  • Document the real-world impacts of workforce reductions

  • Preserve institutional knowledge and public health expertise

  • Support future efforts to rebuild or sustain CDC capacity

  • Provide credible, accessible information for policymakers, researchers, and the public.

Because almost everything CDC does requires a team effort, the CDC Listening Project is interviewing RIFed, furloughed, and prematurely retired staff at all levels and in all disciplines and specialties.

  • The Listening Project’s interviewers are PhD-level researchers who held positions in the agency in the past, but left CDC before the recent spate of cuts. Their knowledge of CDC’s mission, internal processes and culture helps them understand the experiences the interviewees describe and translate agency jargon into plain English for the general reader.

  • Everyone working on or interviewed by the CDC Listening Project is an unpaid volunteer. This work is done on personal time, independent of any organizational affiliation.

  • CDC Listening Project interviewees have consented to have de-identified summaries of their responses posted on this public website.

  • The interviews are conducted by telephone and are not audio-recorded. Instead, interviewers prepare a written summary, and interviewees review, edit and approve it before it is posted.

  • The stories posted here may be useful to researchers, students interested in public health careers, policy makers, public health planners, journalists, advocates, and members of the public who seek insight into the real, behind-the-scenes work of the nation’s premier public health institution.

Meet the Team

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    May Kennedy

    PROJECT MANAGER

    May G. Kennedy is a community psychologist by training. She retired from the Public Health program at the Virginia Commonwealth University in 2013. Before that, she was a behavioral scientist at CDC where she worked on prevention communication. Before that, she was a policy analyst on Capitol Hill in Washington. May hopes that this listening project will serve as a sort of “seed bank,” preserving organizational DNA that could guide public health efforts in the future.

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    Interview Team

    Volunteers who worked for CDC in the past and have doctoral-level research backgrounds conduct the interviews. They range in seniority from former fellows to former Center directors. 

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    Jillisa Hope Milner

    WEB & GRAPHIC DESIGNER

    Jillisa is a communications professional with nearly 20 years of public service and a background in writing, design, and multimedia production. Her work centers on creating clear, accessible communications for complex and sensitive projects. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Christopher Newport University and a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University.