Anita M. Smith
Biographical Sketch
Anita M. Smith has 20 years management and administrative
experience with various public and private organizations in Sacramento, California
and the Mississippi Delta. She was
instrumental in leading the Delta Partners Initiative Youth Program, funded by
the W. K. Kellogg Foundation at Delta
State University’s
Center for Community and Economic Development. This program sponsored the first
ever Delta-Wide Youth Summit in the summer of 1999. Outcomes from this Summit gave youth a voice
in their communities to serve, learn, lead, and grow. The Delta Partners Initiative Youth Program
became a model for the nation.
During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Ms. Smith was
asked to lead the 8th District African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Disaster Relief Center. Ms Smith is responsible for supervision and
quality control of 35 Satellite Centers.
She ensures that all programmatic, administrative, public relations,
goal accomplishments and support aspects of the Center operate effectively and
smoothly. Ms. Smith was influential in
securing funding for
institutional operation as well as emergency
financial assistance for survivors.
While serving as Director of the Disaster Relief
Center, she was
recommended to assist in the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund as an Interfaith
Community Liaison to the Interfaith Advisory Committee. In this role, Ms. Smith provides leadership,
management, direction, and administration of the community outreach plan for
the Gulf Coast region (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi). She also coordinates strategies to achieve
positive and productive relationships between the Interfaith Advisory Committee
and the community.
Ms. Smith is an accomplished musician. She served as the General Music Expert
Citizen Consultant at John
F. Kennedy
High School. Her work with the adult and youth choirs is
exceptional and widely respected.
Ms. Smith co-authored Action Learning Modules – Process
Skills in Community Organizations, 2001, Understanding
and Developing Process Skills; Communications in Community Organizations, and
Understanding and Overcoming Prejudice in Community Organizations.
Ms. Smith received her B.B.A. in Business Administration
from the University
of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She is a native of Mound Bayou, Mississippi