Rep.
Connie "LaJoyce" Johnson, a Democrat, represents part of St. Louis
City (District 61) in the Missouri House of Representatives.
In
addition to her legislative duties, Rep. Johnson is a lawyer. She is currently employed as an adjunct
professor at the University of St. Louis School of Public Health.
Her
extensive experience includes serving as assistant to the director, Division of
Aging, Missouri Department of Social Services. She oversaw the minority-aging
program and provided leadership and staffed the Commission on the Special
Health, Psychological and Social Needs of Older Minority Individuals and the
Governor's Advisory Council on Aging. She
also worked from 1997-1999, on the legal team in the Office of the General
Counsel for the Missouri Department of Health.
There she worked on Personnel Advisory Board cases, childcare licensing
and other programming issues. She also served as a member of the Minority
Health Advisory Council.
After
graduation from law school, Rep Johnson started working for the Missouri
Department of Health in the Center for Local Public Health Services. As the administrative liaison, she managed
core public health contracts for 114 counties in Missouri. In addition to those duties, she assisted
the director in researching special projects, including insurance for
Missouri's low-income children.
Rep.
Johnson is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Mound City Bar
Association. She serves on the Walbridge Advisory Committee of St. Louis Caring
Communities. She is the committeewoman for the 27th Ward in St. Louis and
serves on the St. Louis NAACP Political Action Committee. Rep. Johnson also
serves as the Vice President of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus
Foundation. In addition, she is a member of the Sue Shear Institute for Women
in Public Life.
Honors
and awards for Rep. Johnson include: Mortar Board and President's Service Award
(Bradley University), Danforth Leadership award, St. Louis Association of
Colored Women Community Service award, St. Louis Teachers Union Lifetime
Achievement award, 2001 Mtumishi Service award for public service to the African
American Community in the field of mental health, and the Top Ladies of
Distinction Unsung Heroine award. She was a public member of the Board of
Geologists Registration from 1998-2000 and a commissioner on the St. Louis
Planning and Industrial Expansion Authority from 1998-2000. In addition, Rep.
Johnson recently spoke at the Missouri Immunization Conference and at the
National Conference of State Legislatures in regards to the National Health
Policy. She also attended the National Governor’s Association on Chronic
Diseases to help design a plan to address the health disparities in Missouri.
Rep. Johnson was also Missouri's First Congressional District Electoral College
representative for the 1996 Presidential election. In addition, Rep. Johnson
has recently returned from South Africa where she was a US delegate with the
American Council of Young Political Leaders.
A
1987 graduate of Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis, Rep. Johnson received a
bachelor of science degree from Bradley University in 1991 in
communications/radio/tv/video with a minor in psychology and news. She received
a juris doctorate and master’s degree in health administration from Saint Louis
University in 1996.
Born
July 1, 1969 in Chicago, Ill., Rep. Johnson moved to St. Louis in 1979. She currently resides in St. Louis City with
her mother, Alice Buchanan.