Jessica-Rose Wallace

Jessica-Rose Wallace is the Director of Government Affairs and Special Assistant to the President at Metropolitan Family Services. She provides strategic leadership for Metropolitan’s policy and advocacy initiatives to influence local, state and federal legislative and budgetary outcomes. Her work includes cultivating relationships with policymakers and stakeholders, securing government funding, and fostering collaborative efforts to resolve large-scale public policy issues that affect Chicago’s most vulnerable communities. In 2019, she was appointed to Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Housing Transition Committee.

Prior to joining Metropolitan, Jessica-Rose served as the Director of Women Veterans and Family Services for Warrior Summit Coalition. She advanced systems change and built capacity for collective impact throughout Chicago's veteran community. As a member of the Council on Veteran Affairs for the City of Chicago, Co-Chair of the Women Veterans Committee for the City of Chicago and appointee to Governor J.B. Pritzker's Serving Illinois' Heroes Transition Committee— she has played an integral role in many city and statewide initiatives to enhance women veterans services, employment, and minority/veteran-owned business opportunities for Illinois veterans. 

Jessica-Rose served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 2000-2008, deploying twice to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She received her B.A. from Governors State University and her A.M. from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. She resides on Chicago’s Southside with her husband, Jonathan, and their toddler Camile-Rose.