Speaker Biographies
Stephen Melton, Moderator
Stephen Melton leads the Kansas City, Missouri Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national volunteer organization working to get Carbon Pricing legislation passed in Washington, D.C. Locally, he is an ambassador for the Mid-American Regional Council’s Climate Action Plan, which he helped write, and is a member of the Policy Committee for Climate Action KC. He served as a U.S. Army officer until his retirement in 2004 and has earned a masters degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He currently lives with his wife, Susan, in Parkville, Missouri, where he is running for alderman.
Winston Apple, Author and former DNC member
Winston Apple was the co-chair of the Citizens’ Party in Missouri in 1980. He was elected to the Democratic National Committee in June of 2016 and to the State Committee of the Missouri Democratic Party in November of that same year. He did not seek re-election to either committee. He considers himself to be, first and foremost, a “small d” democrat. He agrees with John Locke and the Declaration of Independence that the “consent of the governed” is the only lawful basis for government.
Winston is an educator with a masters in Curriculum and Instruction. He taught social studies courses (mostly civics and economics) in the Kansas City Missouri School District. Although he has "retired" from teaching in the public schools, he does not consider himself to be retired. He continues to learn and to share what he has learned through his writing and political activism.
Winston is the author of "Edutopia: A Manifesto for the Reform of Public Education" and has had numerous opinion pieces and political essays published in various newspapers and magazines. He is currently finishing work on his second book.
Jalen Anderson, Jackson County Missouri Legislator
Jalen has been an activist and organizer since he was teenager and is also a caretaker for his disabled mother. He is 26 years old and has never held elected office prior to being elected to the Jackson County Legislature as an at-large member in 2018. He also serves as one of the youngest elected officials in the State of Missouri and is the youngest elected official in Jackson County.
Jalen is a full-time caretaker for his disabled mother and was raised in Blue Springs by his single mother and grandparents. Jalen’s grandparents played a pivotal role in his life and helped structure his ideals and beliefs. Norman, a Postal Workers Union member and employee of the Postal Office at the bulk mail center in Kansas City, instilled in Jalen a strong work ethic and compassion and appreciation for the working person. Linda, a school teacher, taught Jalen the value of knowledge and compassion for those who are a part of the working poor and live in poverty. Both grandparents instilled in him a strong sense of duty to his community and a desire to make government work for the people.
Jalen is a part of many community-minded organizations such as the Heartland Alliance for Progress and Job with Justice. He has also been active in the local political realm since his teenage years. Knocking on doors for then-Senator Obama during the 2008 campaign in Iowa, and knocking on doors and making phone calls for many candidates since. Jalen was elected to the Jackson County Democratic Committee in 2016 and again in 2018. He also serves on the State Democratic Committee and is on its Executive Committee.
Jalen has also served as Vice President of the Young Democrats of Missouri, Young Democrats of America National Committeeman and as a Young Democrats Judicial Delegate.
Mike Kelly, Mayor of Roeland Park, Kansas
Mike Kelly is a lifelong Johnson County resident and is currently Mayor of Roeland Park, Kansas. Before being elected Mayor, Mike served as the Chairman of both the Roeland Park Sustainability Committee and the Community Foundation Advisory Board. Prior to joining the Roeland Park community, Mike attended Cure' of Ars Catholic School and Rockhurst High School. A lover of sports and the outdoors, Mike attained the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America and was a high school All-America Rugby selection.
Mike followed family tradition by enrolling at Kansas State University, where he earned degrees in journalism and political science. He finished his formal education at the University of Kansas School of Law before passing the bar exams in both Kansas and Missouri. While in law school, Mike worked for the Paul E Wilson Project for Innocence and Post-Conviction Remedies, for which he was awarded the Kansas Association for Justice Advocacy Award. Currently, Mike works as an attorney at Husch Blackwell on the Kansas City Country Club Plaza. He volunteers as an attorney with the Neighborhood Justice Center at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
Mike is currently running for Chair of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners.
Nathan Kline, Outreach Coordinator, Green Party of Kansas City Missouri
Nathan Kline is a lifelong resident of Kansas City, Missouri and is a graduate of Kansas City Art Institute, Nathan has a strong background in both the public and private sector, management and administration. With twenty-five years of hospitality management experience, he brought his skill set to the public sector in 2013 to work for the City Planning and Development Department of the City of Kansas City, Missouri where he currently is dedicated to public service.
Nathan has been a supporter and volunteer of the Green Party since the 1996 Ralph Nader campaign for president after finally coming to the realization that the two corporate parties are irredeemably corrupt. His campaign for Jackson County, Missouri Executive in 2018 garnered over 34,000 votes as a Green Party candidate. In 2020 he ran as a Green Party candidate for Missouri Senate District 7 and received over 15,000 votes. He currently serves as Outreach Officer for the Green Party of Kansas City Missouri where he works to grow the influence of the party locally.
As an avid student of history, political science, economics, philosophy and the arts, Nathan continually seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice to achieve a sustainable, just and peaceful society. For Nathan, the Green Party, as the only significant political party in the US that is not wholly captured by corporations and billionaires, is the only vehicle that can achieve these goals. He also feels that the unique international reach of the Green Party makes it the only political movement in the world capable of uniting humanity in defense of all future generations and all other Earthlings who cannot represent themselves at this crucial juncture in human history.
“The free market has failed to adequately address the most pressing issues for Humanity. Re-imagining and implementing a path toward a very different society that can make us resilient in the face of the onrushing climate emergency must be our overarching concern. We need an economic policy focused on meeting peoples’ needs instead of fulfilling billionaires’ greed so that we can forge a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.” --Nathan Kline
Nathan is a champion for transforming our government into a conduit of the People’s will and a vehicle to better the lives of working people, as opposed to a concierge service for the rich and well connected. He is a tireless advocate to reverse the profit-driven corporate takeover of health care, education, energy, and the rest of our economy that has failed us so dramatically, that understands that only a worldwide, mass, political movement can get us from here to there.