The Ashrei Foundation is thrilled to share details about this event, hosted by our colleagues at Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice:
Women Mayors Talking: How Gender, Race, and Politics Intersect In Our Communities
Thursday, April 13, 7 p.m.
In-person program at The Center of Clayton, 50 Gay Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., program begins 7 p.m.
Recent St. Louis elections have resulted in the election of numerous women to local public offices, including many in the top political positions of their jurisdictions. In 2020, Ella Jones was elected mayor of Ferguson, the city that infamously propelled the Black Lives Matter movement to international attention, becoming its first African American and first woman mayor. In 2021, Nikylan Knapper became the first Black mayor of Maplewood. In 2022, Laura Arnold was elected Webster Groves’s first new mayor in almost a quarter century. Join us in an exploration of whether and how the race and gender of our elected officials affects the successful and equitable administration of our municipal governments, as well as challenges women mayors may experience along the way.
Speakers:
Laura Arnold, PhD, mayor, Webster Groves, MO
Mayor Laura Arnold was elected to the Webster Groves City Council in 2018. She was elected mayor in 2022. She serves as the council liaison on the Arts Commission, Health and Environmental Services Advisory Board, and the Webster Groves Library Board.
Laura Arnold is a retired college professor with research and teaching focus on American Government and Politics, especially legislative institutions. Her career included positions at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Webster University, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis teaching a wide range of courses. Her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, and Congress and the Presidency. She is also active in several community organizations, including serving as chair of the Steering Committee of Arts & Faith St. Louis and on the Board of Directors of Webster-Rock Hill Ministries. She is also an active member of Webster Groves Presbyterian Church.
Arnold received the Heart of Gold Award, Heart of the Community Awards from Webster-Rock Hill-Shrewsbury Chamber of Commerce in 2017, and the Founder’s Award from Metro Edge Figure Skating Club in 2012.
Arnold earned a BA in Political Science from Northwestern University, an MA in Political Science from George Washington University, and a PhD in Political Science from Ohio State University.
Ella Jones, mayor, Ferguson, MO
Ella Jones Jones was elected as the first female and African American woman as mayor of Ferguson in 2020. Jones graduated from the University of Missouri at St. Louis with a BA in Chemistry. She was certified by the American Chemical Society as a high pressure liquid chromatographer and completed training as a pharmacy technician. Jones’s professional career included positions as a peptide specialist in the Biochemistry Molecular Biophysics Department at the Washington University School of Medicine and as an analytical chemist at KV Pharmaceutical Company. Jones also served many years as a sales director with Mary Kay Cosmetics.
Jones is a member of the Missouri Annual Conference in the Fifth Episcopal District. She was ordained an itinerant elder from St. Paul A.M.E. Church, “The Mother Church of African Methodism west of the Mississippi.” As an associate minister she provided a wide range of ministries to the church. Jones served as the pastor of several congregations including Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Paynesville, Missouri, St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Charles, Missouri, and Tri Union A.M.E. Church In St. Louis, Missouri.
As a public servant, Jones’s career includes being elected as councilwoman for Ward 1 in April 2015 as the first African-American to serve on the council. Jones has received the Legacy Award from The National Council of Negro Women, Inc., a political leadership award during the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Tribute, and on behalf of the City of Ferguson Jones received an award from the Missouri Commission on Human Rights.
Jones is a director of the Emerson YMCA and of Metro-Market, a Guild member of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, founder of Community Forward, Inc., and of the Annual UNITY Weekend, as well as an appointed member of the EPA’s Small Community Advisory Subcommittee (SCAS). She is certified by the Missouri Governance Institute as a municipal official.
Nikylan Knapper, JD, mayor, Maplewood, MO
Nikylan Knapper is the first African-American to be elected mayor of Maplewood, Missouri. She is the mother of Theodore (10 years-old), Lyndon (6 years-old) and Grant (6 years-old). Prior to becoming mayor, Nikylan served as a director for the Maplewood Richmond Heights School Board. She is an attorney who has also served communities as an Assistant Public Defender for Davidson County, Tennessee; an attorney for Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee; and an attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor. Currently, she is an administrative judge for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Inspired by Justice Thurgood Marshall, Nikylan has dedicated her legal career to public service and she is focused on working to ensure that equity and anti-racism is embedded in local laws and policies.