Ms. Bell-McKoy is a graduate of the University of Maryland, with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She launched her public service career in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. region. She joined Mayor Marion Barry’s public policy office as a team member for “Changing the Odds,” an early partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and The District of Columbia Government. She served in many other roles in the D.C. government before joining the Baltimore City Government under the leadership of Mayor Kurt Schmoke.

In 1994 she led the launch of the country’s most successful Empowerment Zone, a federal $100 million ten-year investment in developing sustained economic and community development opportunities for residents and businesses in a targeted group of communities in Baltimore City. Under her leadership, the program achieved a return on investment of $15 million. In this role, she gained greater clarity about the role of structural racism versus the limitation of “success for a few” as a result of sustained dollar investment.

She and her team have developed several tools for addressing the impact of structural racism and fostering equity and inclusion to create economic strength for all communities. Through their work at ABC, Bell-McKoy’s team has authored, led research on, and occasionally collaborated on many well-regarded research reports, policy papers, and recommendations.

In addition to leading ABC, Bell-McKoy is active in the broader community locally and nationally through extensive board engagement and leadership. She was one of the initial co-leaders for the Baltimore Aspen Workgroup for Dismantling Structural Racism, a former Trustee for the Baltimore Community Foundation, and the former chair for Humanim.

Ms. Bell-McKoy has served on the National Policy Council for AARP. She currently serves on the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), Baltimore’s Promise, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA). While she is a woman of prestige and known for her excellence in all the positions she assumes, she is most proud of her roles as a wife, a stepmother, a  grandmother, a sibling, and an aunt.