As a founding board member of Midwest Urban Strategies, Stacey Fowler helped shape the organization in its earliest days. She was a champion of innovation, a supporter of bold ideas, and a leader who did not hesitate to roll up her sleeves to help build what did not yet exist. In many ways, the work of MUS today reflects the values she carried: collaboration, justice, and a deep commitment to community.
A pioneer in workforce development, Stacey was a builder of opportunity and a steady, powerful force for opening doors and expanding access across the communities she served. With more than two decades of leadership, including her roles as Senior Vice President of Minority and Small Business Empowerment at the St. Louis Development Corporation and former Director of Workforce Development for SLATE, she brought vision, strategy, and heart to every space she entered. Her human-centered approach paved the way for her natural ability to bridge policy and practice, ensuring systems were effective. She led with clarity and conviction, and just as importantly, with kindness and grace. Those who worked alongside her remember both her strength and her gentleness, her fierce advocacy and her generosity of spirit.
It is in this spirit that the February edition of the MUS Connector is dedicated in loving memory of Stacey Fowler. We honor her leadership, her compassion, and the lasting imprint she leaves on our field and on all of us who continue the work she cared so deeply about.
