Kel Ward said he has always been community-minded, which was instilled in him by his mother and father (Kayte Ward and Bill McCulley) as a youngster growing up in St. Louis. His work with youth early in his career after college allowed him to engage with nonprofit organizations in the community.
“With some of the volunteer work that I did, I started seeing different issues in our communities with our youth, some in my family and some in the community – and that’s where I got my passion,” he said.
As manager of community relations for St. Louis Children’s Hospital, a position he has held since 2009, Ward is responsible for building community partnerships with the hospital throughout Missouri and Illinois that will improve patient care for children. He promotes services that Children’s offers outside of its walls, such as health screenings, education, medical and dental treatment.
He works with churches, community organizations and Saint Louis Public Schools, Hazelwood and Normandy school districts. Recently, Ward facilitated bringing Children’s health services to District 189 in East St. Louis, Illinois.
“I leveraged the resources of the hospital to bring this program to the area free of charge,” Ward said. “The hospital had always wanted to get on the East Side, and this was my opportunity to make that happen and I was able to get more districts served as well on the Illinois side.”
Most recently, Ward has taken on an additional responsibility with BJC Healthcare, as manager of community engagement for Raising St. Louis, a program targeted at low-income families in St. Louis to provide support for pregnant women and their children from birth through the third grade.
“We have been very intentional in not doing this to the community, but doing it with the community,” Ward said. “Raising St. Louis is a home visitation program and for pregnant women. We are trying to find women early in their pregnancy so we can push prenatal care.”
It really doesn’t matter where they are in their pregnancy, Ward said, but the earlier the better for mom and baby. They have nearly 30 women enrolled thus far.
A necessary element to the equation for developing healthy families is including the father.
“We’re engaging the fathers as well,” Ward said. “I have the Father’s Support Center at the table as one of our partners.”
Ward said it is exciting to see dads as well as moms engaged.
Ward earned a bachelor of science in criminology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and has a certificate in conflict mediation with an emphasis in youth skills.
Ward previously served as a field director, district director and district executive for the Greater St. Louis Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. He also worked as a resource development consultant for the United Way of Greater St. Louis before joining St. Louis Children’s Hospital as manager of child health advocacy and outreach.
Ward has numerous past and present community organizational involvements, including the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Friends of Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis, the Charmaine Chapman Society of the United Way, NAACP and the St. Louis Ambassadors. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Ward and his wife Donna, have three children. He splits his place of worship between Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church and Trinity Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church.
“When I go home, when I go to the grocery store, when I go to my place of worship, I’m always having somebody talk to me about what’s going on with health care, or what you are doing in the community,” Ward said. “I love that I have the opportunity to be able to give back to my community.”
