Kaelin Richardson, MSW, leads the RRT’s community initiatives and partnerships. They provide facilitative leadership to bi-state community groups, organizations, and collaboratives to co-develop innovative solutions to racial and systemic inequities. Kaelin leverages Critical Race Theory, Community Based System Dynamics, Human Centered Design, and liberatory pedagogies to center their personal practice.

Kaelin has over 15 years of experience in education, beginning as an early learning teacher and spanning youth development, career development, and higher education. In more recent years, their work has shifted to support community-directed collaboration. As backbone staff of East Side Aligned and the Greater East St. Louis Early Learning Partnership, Kaelin led efforts for addressing racial inequities in safety, well-being, and kindergarten readiness through peer-to-peer family supports, grassroots organizing, service coordination, advocacy, and systems building.

In their free time, Kaelin supports community education on LGBTQIA+ identities and builds in time for art, gardening, and anything else that lets them express their creativity. 

Alaina Smith operationalizes strategy and makes the gears turn at the RRT. She has scaled the staff, budget, and impact of St. Louis nonprofits for over a decade. As Director of Policy and Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, Alaina tripled the size of her department. Her team changed the course of policy and elections by mobilizing over 40,000 people a year to participate in the legislative process at the local, state (MO & IL), and federal levels. Alaina is a community organizer at heart, and she believes that multi-racial, multi-issue organizing is the key to liberation. She is proudest of serving in coalition leadership on the 2018-2020 statewide ballot measures that raised Missouri’s minimum wage, expanded Medicaid, and repealed anti-union legislation.

Alaina started her career in direct service roles, which inform her approach to systems change and people-centered operations. She served as a Victim Advocate in the County Domestic Violence Court, taught a men’s Batterer Intervention Program, and connected communities to health insurance during the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. She continues strengthening the health care safety net as a board member of Missouri’s federal Title X grantee. Alaina earned a B.A. at WashU, here she also worked at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement.

When she’s not talking about health policy and economic justice, Alaina would love to show you photos of her two cats, dog, and the frogs she spotted on her last (slow) hike.

Carrie Crompton, JD, joined the RRT in April 2021. She streamlined internal and external communications and ensured that hundreds of community partners received critical updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years, Carrie transitioned to focus on the RRT’s administrative needs.

Carrie earned a JD from California Western School of Law and a degree in Business Administration from Saint Mary’s College of California. After working in the legal field for several years, Carrie pivoted to a career in the nonprofit sector. She worked with multiple St. Louis organizations focused on women and children, where she wore many hats spanning operations, finance, human resources, and compliance. Carrie pursues organizational excellence by creating the strong foundation nonprofits need to fulfill their mission.

Carrie believes in the power of volunteering and giving back, values she has modeled through a lifetime of service to her community. Her history on nonprofit boards includes the Junior League of St. Louis, the Conflict Resolution Center of St. Louis, Caring Solutions, and the MOMS Club of Saint Louis City. She is currently the board Treasurer of Circus Flora, a St. Louis nonprofit bringing the magic and artistry of circus to young and old.

Carrie is the proud mom to three amazing boys – 9, 12 and 14 – and one furball named Barley! They love living in South City, walking everywhere and playing ALL the sports, ALL the time. Carrie also enjoys watching their sports and working out.