Kennedy became a student organizer in 2015 at Mizzou during the Concerned Student 1950 movement. University of Missouri system administrators refused to take action against racially driven harassment on campus, and students like Kennedy stood up to fight back against the administrative silence. Kennedy may be young, but she has been fighting for equity and justice in Missouri for over a decade. 

 

Kennedy was a Local 881 UFCW union member in high school when she worked as a grocery store cashier at Jewel Osco Food Stores and understands the rights and needs of minimum wage workers. As a college student Kennedy worked as a Camp Counselor during the summers of 2016-2018 with the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus to bring Black high school students to the Capitol, teach them how the state legislature works, and hold a mock bill hearing on the House floor. 

 

After graduating from Mizzou, Kennedy moved to the St. Louis region in 2018 to begin a career in public relations before shifting her career to one of public service. In 2020, she became a Black Organizing Summer School (BOSS) fellow with Action St. Louis. This fellowship gave Kennedy the tools to not just be an activist but to organize and build true power in our communities that has tangible results. 

 

Kennedy holds 2 Bachelors degrees in Communication and Black Studies from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a Master of Public Policy Administration from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. She currently is the Senior Manager of Field and Programs with Abortion Action Missouri, and has been building power as an organizer there since 2021. In her time at Abortion Action Missouri, Kennedy has led paid and volunteer canvassers to knock doors for pro-abortion candidates, initiative petitions, and deep canvassing efforts to understand how

Missourians feel about access to abortion care.

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As a community organizer Kennedy has collaboratively worked to pass local and state level policy including:

• City of St. Louis

  • 2022 - Board Bill 48

    • Paid family leave for City of St. Louis employees 

  • 2022 - Board Bill 61 

    • Designate ARPA funding to create a Reproductive Equity Fund in the City of St. Louis

  • 2024 - Board Bill 185 

    • Community Control Over Police Surveillance bill to promote transparency, oversight, and community input in decisions about St. Louis city agencies and law enforcement use of surveillance technology

• St. Louis County

  • 2022 - Bill 148

    • Paid family leave for St. Louis County employees

• State of Missouri

  • 2024 - Proposition A 

    • Increase the minimum wage to $15/hour and provide paid sick leave for all working Missourians

  • 2024 - Amendment 3

    • Legalize access to abortion and enshrine reproductive rights into our state Constitution

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When Kennedy isn’t helping pass legislation and pushing our state forward, she sings in her church choir at St. John’s United Church of Christ (The Beloved Community), sets the tone for events as a DJ, and spends time with her lovely 6-year old cat Paisley.