A Unified Voice

Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay spent 20 years serving public officials at the local, state and national levels before becoming a county commissioner. But it is her work in the nonprofit world that she sees as her greatest accomplishment and so do we!

 She is a founding member behind Palm Beach County’s Butterfly House and Sexual Assault Response Team. Her efforts to open the county’s first Addiction Emergency Room, fight for healthy housing, successful push to provide our firefighters with the first cancer coverage protections in Florida, provide
access to healthcare services for farmworkers during the height of the COVID pandemic, and successfully lobbying the governor in 2017 to declare a public health emergency in response to the growing opioid overdose epidemic are tops among her list of accomplishments. But, the most humbling thing that happened to Melissa was the final item she saw as a commissioner – a motion to approve the naming of the 43-unit transitional housing complex in Pahokee to Melissa’s Place in recognition of her commitment to provide safe, healthy housing for the Glades.

She also served as President of the Palm Beach County Division of ChildNet and on the boards of Voices for Children, the Boys & Girls Club of Boca Raton, and several public schools PTOs, School Advisory Committees and Class Mom. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for HCA Florida Palms West Hospital, Palm Beach North Chamber, the South Florida Fair, and the Homeless Coalition.