Now head of children’s advocacy group Allies for Children, Patrick Dowd was a member of Pittsburgh City Council and served as chairman of the Council’s Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, which is responsible for legislation dealing with the City, its Authorities, the Pittsburgh Schools, Allegheny County, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the federal government. As a member of Council, Patrick also served on a number of boards, including the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Riverlife, the Pittsburgh Zoological Society and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

While in office, Patrick worked to build coalitions around major policy changes. In 2009, Patrick was one of the founding members of CONNECT, which represents the City of Pittsburgh and its 35 adjacent municipalities. For too long the City and its neighbors had failed to work collaboratively. Since its creation, CONNECT has served as a forum for discussion and debate for these municipal leaders and has fostered a growing sense of shared destiny. Since then, Patrick led the effort to build a coalition to save the City’s pensions, the effort to establish a dedicated funding stream for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the effort to reform the operations and management of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

Patrick is a member of the Remake Learning Council.