About Helen

Helen Bailey is proud to announce her candidacy for Missouri State Representative of the 79th District. Helen grew up in the Lindell Park area of the JeffVandeLou neighborhood where her family has resided for over 60 years across 4 generations. As far as education, Helen attended many St. Louis area institutions. Beginning at the St Nicholas Preschool, Woerner IGE, Kennard CJA, and McKinley CJA, before completing middle and high school at John Burroughs School. Helen attended William Jewell College, and completed her undergraduate degree at Missouri State University where she got the opportunity to study abroad in South Korea. Helen is a champion for education and believes children deserve the right to attend accredited schools in their own neighborhoods without fear of being targeted by agents of the school to prison pipeline.

Since childhood, Helen has been involved in the political atmosphere in St. Louis: her mother, Velma Bailey, was alder of the former 19th Ward and her father, the late D.B. Amon, Esq. was an attorney and civil rights organizer. Helen learned the importance of third spaces from her grandfather, Harold L Bailey, Sr., who was the founder and operator of Jodie Bailey and Friends, Inc. and served as the Program Director of City Recreation until his retirement. Helen’s maternal family attended, volunteered and worked at Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club across 3 generations. As a Mathews-Dickey Bulldog, Helen personally knows the value of safe, supervised, spaces for Out of School Time (OST) youth development. After completing the Aim High program, Helen volunteered as a TA and became the program’s office coordinator in college.

Helen’s roots run deep in Saint Louis and her commitment to the community is demonstrated through her completion of Action St. Louis’ BOSS Fellowship and becoming a Powerbuilder through Freedom Community Center’s Peace & Power class. Organizing and community engagement are the basis of her campaign because she believes in the power of People Power and has seen firsthand what genuine commitment to a cause can create for neighborhoods. As a State Representative Helen’s aim is to create and champion legislation that strengthens the 79th District, the City of Saint Louis, and the State of Missouri.

"Working closely with our most disenfranchised Missourians showed me that we must work at the state level to solve our problems. Whether it is in education, public safety, our housing crises, or disaster relief. We deserve representation for even the least of us.”

Helen Bailey

Campaign Trail Gallery

Helen has been out in the community meeting neighbors from across the 79th District, from Fairground Park to Tower Grove Park!

Why We’re Supporting Helen

Helen is dedicated to improved education, public safety for all St. Louis residents, and housing as a human right.

A Word from Helen

My name is Helen Bailey; I’m running for 79th District State Representative. I’m from the JeffVanderLou neighborhood where my family has lived for over 60 years. I’m running to become a unifying voice for our district and for our city. I worked as a social worker for about 10 years in SW Missouri, touching Greene, Barry, Stone, and Lawrence counties. I am a 2025 BOSS Fellow and 2026 Powerbuilder with the Freedom Community Center.

I have life and work experiences bringing differing voices to the table to create solutions that work for everyone. Part of representing a state district involves cooperation amongst the neighborhoods, collaboration with both sides of the political aisle and districts that operate differently than our own.

My platform focuses on education, public safety, and housing as a human right. The Saint Louis Public Schools continue to lose funding, students, and credibility in our community; we are in a literacy crisis with no clear plan. Our children’s frustrations with their place in the world has led them to perform self-destructive behaviors that harm our communities. To add to that there is a notion at the state level that 12 year olds have the processing and decision making abilities of fully grown adults, which matches with 0% of the current data that is out; we have not been on our jobs as St. Louisans because this happened on our watch.

We are one year post-tornado and many affected residents remain without proper permanent shelter, some even sleeping in tents on their property. In order to have a thriving city where people want to live we must care for the residents we already have and invest where divestment has been the status quo. I believe the community must come together to solve its issues and create self-sustaining systems that work. We must work together as a district to ensure we bring state resources to our communities and that we fund programming that uplifts the entire district.

We must become active in our communities again; the future success of our city rests with us and our personal, individual, and collective choices. All that I’ve learned has brought me to where I am today, vying to be your next State Representative; hoping to be the voice that connects the 79th District to Saint Louis City and the State of Missouri.

Helen standing in silent protest to advocate for appropriate equitable outcomes for youth that do not involve confinement.

Get in contact with us!

If you’re interested in volunteering and hearing more, reach out to us.

We’ll see you on the campaign trail!

“If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”

Let’s revive our Saint Louis community spirit one door at a time!