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Andria Nelson Roberts, Vice President of Impact

Andria Nelson Roberts, Vice President of Impact at The Equity Network, is no stranger to community service.

“’I grew up in a culture of community service and community engagement, so joining the Network feels like coming full circle,” said Roberts.

A Kansas City native, Roberts first came to St. Louis in 2011 through AmeriCorps after completing a Masters of Regional and Community Planning at Kansas State University. AmeriCorps assigned Roberts to work with College Bound St. Louis, where she learned to live in the community she served and experience the world through their eyes.

“That experience taught me how the systems we have in place to help communities in need don’t always work as well as they should,” Roberts commented.

Roberts continued to serve College Bound St. Louis for two more years after her time with AmeriCorps was complete. With her background in community planning, she was interested in finding ways to improve the systems and processes that affect a community’s quality of life. That passion led her to a career in government service.

“When a position opened up with St. Louis County’s planning department in 2015, I was excited to use my community planning training to serve the general public,” Roberts explained. “While working in county government, I wore many hats, but I was always focused on continuous improvement and process efficiency.”

Roberts transitioned to the County Executive’s office in 2019 as the Deputy Director of Operations, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to county government.

“From the beginning, I was working with our operating departments, including public works and transportation, public health, and administration to improve county services,” Roberts explained. “But when the pandemic hit a few months later, that became our primary focus: how we could be good stewards of funding and other resources to help our community through this crisis.”

Roberts’ work earned her a promotion to Director of Transformation, where she spearheaded the County Executive’s Transformation Agenda, which made permanent changes to county government based on lessons learned during the pandemic.

“The pandemic forced us to improve our systems and processes in ways that we knew would benefit the community even after the pandemic is over,” Roberts explained.

When her supervisor, Winston Calvert, was offered a position as CEO of the Equity Network, he asked Roberts to join him at the Network.

“The Network’s model of encouraging nonprofits to work more closely with one another to better serve the community align with my own goals and passion for improving community service systems,” Roberts explained. “In my previous role, I learned that the best way to help organizations improve their systems is to first listen to their needs and their goals. I’m excited to get to know our platform partners and members, learn more about their needs, and find creative ways to work together to Build Equity for the Normandy School District community.”