Kelly is a well-respected and innovative nonprofit leader in Washington, DC. For over 30 years, she has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people experiencing poverty and homelessness in Washington, DC through providing direct services as well as finding long-term solutions through system change. Her bold leadership in housing systems and healthcare delivery is transforming care in both fields.

Kelly has been President and CEO of Community of Hope (COH) since 2001. Her leadership and foresight have grown COH from a budget of $1.8 million to $52 million, allowing the organization to annually serve the needs of about 20,000 people. Founded in 1980, COH’s mission is to improve health and end family homelessness to make Washington, DC more equitable. Kelly has led the organization through four strategic plans and multiple capital projects.

Kelly has provided leadership at a city level in transforming systems to help low-income families. Since 2006, Kelly has served as a member of the Mayor’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, including co-chairing the Strategic Planning Committee. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the DC Primary Care Association and as a member of the Federal City Council. She is a member of the 2006 class of Leadership Greater Washington. She received a Master’s in Business Administration from Georgetown University and has a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.

Kelly has won numerous awards, including the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation’s Exponent Award in 2009, Washington Women of Excellence Award in 2015, the Washington Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business Award in 2017 and the Washington Business Journal’s Innovators in Health Care; Women’s Health Advocate Award in 2024.

Kelly previously served as Executive Director of Hannah House, a transitional housing program for homeless women in the District of Columbia, and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband Kevin McShane, and they are parents to three adult children.

Ebony has served as the Director of Midwifery at Community of Hope since 2015. She leads a team of primarily Black midwives serving patients in under-resourced communities in Washington, DC. She was formerly the Administrative Chief of Midwifery Service at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. She completed her nursing education at Georgetown University, Masters in Midwifery at Jefferson University, and her Doctor of Arts in Nursing Practice at Frontier Nursing University.

She was recognized as a Johnson & Johnson Hero Among Us in 2022. In 2019 she was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Nurse Midwives. In 2018, she completed Duke University and Johnson & Johnson Nursing Leadership Fellowship. She is adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and guest faculty at IHI (Institute of Health Improvement) focused on rebuilding systems to address racism and health equity. Her advocacy work has included multiple congressional briefings creating awareness around the need for policy changes to reduce maternity care disparities.

Dr. Marcelle is known for her passion in midwifery and midwifery’s role in reproductive justice. She has built culturally aware clinical models of care specifically for under resourced Black women. She is currently serves on the following boards: National Association for the Advancement of Black Birth and American Association of Birth Centers. In 2019 she was appointed to the District’s Inaugural Maternal Mortality Review Committee.