  We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI)
integral-field spectroscopy of the nearby merging, luminous infrared galaxy,
NGC 7469. This galaxy hosts a Seyfert type-1.5 nucleus, a highly ionized
outflow, and a bright, circumnuclear star-forming ring, making it an ideal
target to study AGN feedback in the local Universe. We take advantage of the
high spatial/spectral resolution of JWST/MIRI to isolate the star-forming
regions surrounding the central active nucleus and study the properties of the
dust and warm molecular gas on ~100 pc scales. The starburst ring exhibits
prominent Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) emission, with grain sizes and
ionization states varying by only ~30%, and a total star formation rate of $\rm
10 - 30 \ M_\odot$/yr derived from fine structure and recombination emission
lines. Using pure rotational lines of H2, we detect 1.2$\times$10$^{7} \rm \
M_\odot$ of warm molecular gas at a temperature higher than 200 K in the ring.
All PAH bands get significantly weaker towards the central source, where larger
and possibly more ionized grains dominate the emission. However, the bulk of
the dust and molecular gas in the ring appears unaffected by the ionizing
radiation or the outflowing wind from the AGN. These observations highlight the
power of JWST to probe the inner regions of dusty, rapidly evolving galaxies
for signatures of feedback and inform models that seek to explain the
co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their hosts.
