The Kelvin Story-article from the website when Kelvin Simmons was running for Missouri State Treasurer.

Kelvin's Family

Kelvin L. Simmons was born on October 4, 1963, and is the son of the late Thurman and Inez Simmons. Kelvin was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and he attended public schools from kindergarten through high school. He was taught the value of hard work by watching and learning from his parents. A member of the United Auto Workers Union, his father Thurman worked for 33 years at the Leeds General Motors Plant in Kansas City, MO. His mother was a domestic worker. Both parents and Kelvin were involved in church and Thurman at one time served as the head of the Sunrise Baptist Church Deacon Board. The church's library was named in his honor after his passing in 1989.

Growing Up in Kansas City

In Kelvin's early years he was a National Honor Student, voted by his classmates as "Most Likely to Succeed," starting quarterback for his varsity football team, and Vice President of his Junior & Senior Class. Kelvin achieved these goals while working two jobs in high school - at Brown's Chicken and in the Kansas City Medical Center housekeeping department. Kelvin is no stranger to hard work and is consistently known for out working his competition to achieve his goals.

Kelvin's Public Service

In 1993, Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan appointed Kelvin as the State Director of Equal Employment Opportunity. Kelvin was responsible for fair employment practices for all 16-state agencies in Missouri's state government. Kelvin drafted the executive order signed by Governor Carnahan in 1994, that is credited with dramatically improving the number of women and minorities serving at the highest levels in state government. From 1993 to 1997, the number of women and minorities in top state government positions increased by more than 300%.

The success of the program led Governor Carnahan to appoint Kelvin to a senior staff position in his office as the Director of Constituent Services. Kelvin became the person responsible for handling constituent concerns on behalf of the Governor throughout the State of Missouri. He served in this position from 1993 to 1996.

Kansas City Voters Elect Kelvin

In 1997, Kelvin was elected to the Kansas City Council. His 5th District seat includes over 70,000 residents and is one of the largest municipal districts in the State of Missouri. He was re-elected in 1999 with no opposition. He serves on the Finance Committee that is responsible for the City's $880 million budget and he is the only Council member that serves on the City's Investment Portfolio Committee which is responsible for investing over $560 million in city investments. Since his election and service on the Finance Committee, Kansas City has received higher ratings on city accounting and investment practices from Governance magazine.

Kelvin also serves on the National League of Cities Community and Economic Development Steering Committee which is responsible for setting national policy on economic development and housing issues.

Kelvin's Commitment to Voter Participation

During the 1990's, Kelvin has been active on the local, state, and national levels working for Congressman Alan Wheat, Governor Carnahan, President Clinton and the Missouri Democratic Party. In 1992, Kelvin was a campaign assistant to former Congressman Alan Wheat of Kansas City, specializing in voter registration and get out the vote efforts. In the same year, Kelvin was appointed Director of Voter Registration and Get Out the Vote for the successful Missouri Democratic Party's, "Clinton/Gore Victory 92 Coordinated Campaign." His efforts of registering more than 25,000 new voters in the Kansas City area contributed to President Clinton's and the five Democratic statewide office holders impressive victories. In 1996, Kelvin was asked by President Clinton's National Campaign Team to become the Missouri Political Director. Kelvin's efforts, along with a great team of strong Democrats, again led to a presidential victory and all statewide Democratic officeholders winning re-election.

The Key to Kelvin's Success - Education

With high expectations from his parents who knew the importance of education to his future, Kelvin pursued an advanced college education and has received three college degrees. Kelvin has an Executive MBA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and two undergraduate degrees from The University of Missouri at Columbia. He also briefly attended the University of Missouri -Columbia School of Law. Kelvin has also studied abroad in Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Hong Kong and Beijing China as part of his college education.

Kelvin's Community Service

Instilled in Kelvin was the responsibility to give back to his community. Kelvin founded a local support program for young men designed to provide mentors to at-risk young men in the Chouteau Housing Complex from 1990 to 1992. The program was titled Save Our Sons. Kelvin is currently a member of the Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, Young Democrats of Kansas City, Phi-Beta-Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and the NAACP. Kelvin is also active in many other civic and community organizations.

Kelvin's Family Today

Kelvin is proud to be married to Cheryl Simmons, the current Director of Community Affairs for Governor Carnahan's Kansas City Office. Prior to working for Governor Carnahan, Cheryl was the Branch Manager for State Treasurer Bob Holden's Kansas City Office. Cheryl is the Chairman of the Women for Simmons Committee that has already signed up over 1000 women statewide to support Kelvin's campaign to become Missouri's next State Treasurer. And Kelvin's Mom Inez is hard at work rounding up support for Kelvin in his boyhood neighborhood.

Admirers of Commissioner Kelvin Simmons.