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ODI Staff Spotlight: Melissa Wade
By Dan Santiago-Stewart
UCS Office of Diversity and Inclusion
 When asked if I would be willing to write a piece for the ODI Staff Spotlight in this newsletter, I was hesitant. “What if they don’t like my writing style?” “What if it doesn’t come out ok?” I truly wondered if I was up to the task. Then I learned that the subject of this issue’s Spotlight was Melissa Wade, and I excitedly accepted the challenge. Melissa is one of the newer members in our ODI group, joining us in January 2022 as a Principal Court Analyst. From the moment she came to ODI, Melissa’s enthusiasm and passion for this work was obvious, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of sharing her story with you.
DAN: Melissa, you have such an interesting background. I want to know more about you, where you came from, where you grew up? How you got here? Things like that.
MELISSA: I grew up in Keizer, a suburb of Salem, Oregon; it was a pretty idyllic childhood. Growing up there in the 1980’s and 90’s it was a safe and close-knit community. Very oriented towards school, sports and activities – just a great childhood. There was the specter of racism hanging over my family, however, in this extremely homogenous area with a history of extreme racial injustice. My dad is Black, and my mom is white. While we didn’t experience overt racial hostility, there were obvious difficulties regarding housing and work, that both of my parents experienced as an interracial couple. These experiences affected my views on race, and definitely played a part in why I do the work I do today.
Were you born there?
No, I was born in Sacramento, California. My Dad’s extended family emigrated there from Arkansas, as part of the Great Migration. Due to the recession in the 1970’s my family went to Oregon when I was three years-old, because there were more job opportunities there. My dad was a teacher at the time and my mom stayed home with me.
Before we get to your move to New York, can you tell me about school, where did you go to school?
I went to McNary High School in Keizer, Oregon, an “All American” High School where I was a cheerleader and played tennis. We had a high focus on academics as well; it was cool to do well in school, and we had robust AP programs that my friends and I all participated in. This past summer I went to my 30-year high school reunion and had a great time reminiscing with everyone and reliving our seemingly carefree high school days.
For college I went to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California which is really close to Malibu. It was fun to leave class and head to Zuma beach! I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, partly because I studied business and marketing in high school. I was in DECA, the Distributive Educational Clubs of America, which is a marketing club where you compete, and it was something I was naturally pretty good at, and it was enjoyable. I thought that I would continue with something that I was good at and wasn’t too terribly challenging, as I was looking to enjoy my time in college.
So you are West Coast, born and raised. What brought you to the East Coast? How did you get to New York?
One of my first jobs out of college was at Portland State University, it was a research position. I helped conduct research on child abuse and neglect. Traveling all around the state of Oregon, reading the actual case files on families; that was my first foray into Child Welfare (foster care). From there, I got more involved in child welfare work and went into the court side of things, at the Oregon Judicial Department, Citizen Review Board. From there I went to work for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges in Reno, Nevada. I never thought in a million years that I would ever leave Oregon, but it was a great opportunity. I worked for the National Council for almost three years, which was amazing. I traveled to Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Charlotte, and many other cities, working with (Child Protection) judges and court teams on best practices and systems change. After almost 3 years I decided to take a sabbatical to determine which direction I wanted to go next; I was contemplating law school. At that time, New York started hiring to expand their Court Improvement Program (CIP). The National Council works very closely with CIPs across the country, so I knew the New York people, and my former boss suggested I apply for the position. I did, and to my surprise I was hired. Surprise because I never thought I would end up in New York. It wasn’t on my radar, it wasn’t something I was looking to do, but I was offered a job which was an incredible opportunity, and so I moved to New York to work for the court system.
How did you transition from CIP to ODI?
Working with foster care, one of the main things you learn about the child welfare system is an understanding of inequality and injustice, specifically racism. So that has always been a big aspect of CIP, working with court teams and judges to better understand how racism impacts the system. I have been steeped in work around understanding implicit bias, the history of race in the United States, all of those things that bring us to where we are today and that shape the legal-judicial child welfare system. I was in that position for over 11 years, and we did some phenomenal work. I managed a statewide project in conjunction with our federal partners, on the quality of court hearings. The project got national recognition, and that was sort of a pinnacle for me. Then during the pandemic, things became really difficult because our job was to work with the courts to make improvements, and the courts were really just trying to get done what they could. So our work was very quiet, and it really took on a different flavor. I think with that I became a bit restless, and that’s when this opportunity with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion opened up. During the pandemic I earned a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from the University of South Florida and I was looking for an opportunity to put that work into practice, to delve deeper into the DEI piece even more so than the child welfare piece. When I saw the promotional opportunity, I talked to Judge Mendelson, who oversees CIP (as part of the Office of Justice Initiatives) about the idea of shifting gears to this work. She encouraged me, so I applied.
Melissa (far right/foreground) and colleagues from the Court Improvement Project at a conference in 2018. L-R: Aimeé Neri, Jill Baszczynski, and Sheila McCarthy.
One aspect of this work that I believe strongly in is education. I’ve long said, “educate people and let them change their own behavior.” To that end, I am currently working on a project (within ODI) to develop a new online Resource Library that will provide information on relevant diversity and inclusion topics to the greater court system. I hope it will become a go-to resource for everyone, regardless of where they are on their diversity and inclusion learning journey.
You mentioned traveling to so many places for work, do you have any favorite places you have been to or someplace you haven’t been to yet but want to go?
I think I have two favorite places, the first is Hawaii. I had the opportunity to go there a few times for work at the National Council. It is breathtakingly beautiful, and the people are truly the kindest people in the world despite the challenges Hawaii faces. It’s a phenomenal place, and truly exceeded my expectations. Another favorite place is Vieques in Puerto Rico, where I went for the first time in March of last year, and just returned to a few weeks ago. It’s this magical little island with gorgeous, gentle beaches, horses running in the streets, great food, and the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. It’s a magical place.
Wow! Now I want to go there! One last question, what is something that may surprise us about you?
From a young age my main passion was politics. I worked in partisan and non-partisan electoral politics in my younger years. At one point I worked for my congresswoman, Darlene Hooley, as her finance director. That was an interesting and fun time meeting some of the political “Who’s Who” of Oregon as we raised money for her campaign. After that, I started a company with a former colleague called Oregon Campaign Finance Solutions, where we consulted with political action committees and provided support for fundraising and filing contribution and expenditure reports with the state. So, I provided advice to them and prepared their reports. Fun fact- one of our first clients is now the governor, Tina Kotek.
Before we end, I just have to know how you like living in New York.
I love living in New York, which I didn’t think I would. It is very different from the West Coast, and it took a lot of adjusting. New York is such a great city and I especially love my neighborhood, Roosevelt Island, which is like a funky small town on an island in the East River, which most people probably know but have never been to. I really enjoy the community, everyone knows everybody, and we have a lot of activities and events. I used to be on the town council, called the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, so I did that for a few years. I am also very involved in Mosaic Covenant Church on the island. I helped start the church and I sit on the elder board. I moved to New York in 2010 pretty reticent, and now there is no place I would rather live. As they say, New York or nowhere.
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