Name:
Melanie Gowdy
Position/Where:
Outreach & Enrollment Specialist for the Connecting Kids to Coverage program at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Inc.
Career Highlights:
Becoming a Community Building Partnership Fellow was an amazing opportunity to work with St. Louis communities to address the negative consequences of social and economic policies.
Awards:
Community Building Fellowship, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Education:
Truman State University, Bachelor of Arts in History minor – Justice Systems & Political Science
University of Missouri-St. Louis, Master’s in Social Work and Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management & Leadership
Personal:
My family attends Unity Chapel Church under the leadership of Bishop Ronald Irving, Sr. where my father, Rev. James Patty, serves as Assistant Pastor.
I am a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. “Greater Service, Greater Progress.”
St. Louis Connection:
I was born and raised in St. Louis and attended Hazelwood East High School.
Journey to success:
I attribute much of my success to knowing what my strengths and abilities are and finding opportunities where I could be of positive use. My goal is to leave a legacy of service. This has led me to a variety of settings and experiences, but I really love the diversity in the field of service. There is no shortage of causes of which to be a part and I think that makes me a very fluid and flexible servant. But whether I find myself helping a developing nonprofit, working in a community, advocating for workers’ rights, or helping children and families access health care coverage I am strengthened and propelled forward knowing that as a servant of the people, I am giving a voice to a need that might not otherwise be heard.
I believe that I have been more persistent than ambitious. Ambition sets you on the road to your goal, but persistence sustains you during those times when success is not clearly seen or defined. My path has not always been clear and I have had to make my own path a few times. I am grateful for those experiences, because they created opportunities for me to actively shape and determine my success.
You can’t eliminate the challenges, but you can try to mitigate the negative impacts they leave behind. What helped me to do this was to look at challenges as opportunities to learn about myself. How do I respond under pressure and conflict? Better yet, how do I want to respond under pressure and conflict? What coping skills, tools, and supports do I need to nurture? How can I develop my character from the lessons learned?
As an Outreach & Enrollment Specialist in the Connecting Kids to Coverage program, we help families of uninsured children apply for no-cost or low cost health care coverage through Medicaid, CHIP, or the Health Insurance Marketplace. From a parent’s standpoint, I can relate to wanting to make sure that your child has everything they need to grow up healthy and strong. Access to health care can make the difference in so many outcomes for children. Connecting Kids to Coverage is a valuable resource to families, schools, and organizations that serve youth and families.
I absolutely believe in the strength and resiliency of the human spirit. We all can fall victim to those messages from society or elsewhere that tell us we can’t do something because of who we are, how we look, or what we do or don’t have. I have fallen victim to those same deceptions. It took an intentional, unconditional, and unwaivering appreciation and acceptance of myself to help me see that I was not created in inferiority, but was fearfully and wonderfully made. There was an impact waiting to be made that only I could make. I am extremely grateful to several mentors, Dr. Margaret Sherrden, Patti Rosenthal, and Nikki Weinstein who helped me come to that realization. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that I connected with all of these individuals through the Social Work program at UMSL. I gained so much academically, professionally, and personally through that program. Every class gave me something that I was able to apply in my life. I felt like I was earning the degree for my own personal use! But what an awesome tribute to UMSL’s Social Work staff and program to have such a deep and meaningful impact on its students.
Earn a degree, change your life.
I believe that being so open to learn and being impacted by the course work was a major factor in my professional and personal success.
