Patrique Harris
Incoming Executive Director, Mission Adelante
Patrique Harris has spent the last five years at Mission Adelante — first as a ministry leader, then as an organizational leader, and now, as the one entrusted to carry the mission forward. For the donors, partners, and community members who have supported Mission Adelante for years, here's who she is, and why she's ready for this moment.
A Global Perspective, Grounded in Service
Patrique grew up in Ewarton, Jamaica, and came to the United States in 2014 to attend Wesleyan University, where she earned a degree in Economics and International Relations. That international upbringing gave her firsthand experience navigating unfamiliar places as an outsider — an experience that now shapes how she leads a ministry built around welcoming immigrants and refugees. "With God's grace, and friends showing me radical welcome and love, I started to feel like I belonged," she says of her own early transition to the U.S. — an experience she has carried directly into her work with Mission Adelante's families.
A Track Record Beyond Ministry
Before joining Mission Adelante, Patrique built a career at J.P. Morgan's Private Bank in New York, where she advised ultra-high-net-worth families, founders, and foundations on investment strategy, credit structuring, and wealth management. That professional background gives her a working fluency in financial stewardship and operations that few incoming nonprofit executives bring with them on day one — a real asset as she now takes on budget, operations, and resource strategy at Mission Adelante.
Despite that success, Patrique felt called toward ministry, and in 2021 she left her corporate career to join Mission Adelante as Youth Ministry Director — with no connections in Kansas City, and no community waiting for her when she arrived.
A Leader Shaped by Every Level of the Organization
Patrique's path at Mission Adelante has been one of steadily increasing responsibility, each role building directly toward this one:
Youth Ministry Director (2021-2024): Led Adelante Youth Club, developed young leaders through the apprenticeship and internship pipeline, and mobilized volunteer teams — building deep relationships with the immigrant and refugee families at the heart of Mission Adelante's work.
Ministry Community Director (2024-2026): Took on leadership of the Adult, Youth, and Kids Ministry departments, joined Mission Adelante's senior leadership team, and built the staff culture that now defines the organization.
Acting Director during Jarrett's sabbatical (early 2026): Stepped in to lead operations, financial management, partner engagement, and board relations — a hands-on proving ground for executive leadership.
Associate Director (2026-present): Serving as Chief of Staff over Ministry Community and Operations, while receiving direct executive coaching from Jarrett Meek in preparation for this transition.
By the time she steps into the Executive Director role, Patrique will have led nearly every functional area of Mission Adelante — ministry programs, staff culture, operations, finance, and partner relationships.
Why This Matters for Mission Adelante's Future
"Being Executive Director of Mission Adelante means I get to steward an organization that has shaped my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined," Patrique says. "The Mission Adelante community made me, a stranger, belong, and showed me that belonging is cultivated in love, reciprocal relationships, and togetherness perfected by difference."
For the partners and donors who have invested in Mission Adelante over the years, that continuity matters: Patrique isn't an outside hire learning the organization from scratch. She is one of Mission Adelante's own homegrown leaders, prepared deliberately and directly for this role.
"My leadership journey is my testimony: God is faithful," she says. "In this next chapter and beyond, it is God working through this organization and through me, and we can trust Him."