Onjewel Smith has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 20 years helping organizations and communities build their capacity for sustainable change. She has conducted sessions on grassroots advocacy, coalition building, strategic planning, and fundraising. Throughout her career, Ms. Smith has helped develop strategic alliances between local coalitions, community based organizations. In addition, she has helped organizations develop diverse revenue streams through earned income, donor development, and grant solicitation.
Ms. Smith served as the Deputy Director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network. She worked closely with communities throughout the country to reduce tobacco industry presence (products, marketing, and influence) in African American communities. Ms. Smith also worked closely with local and statewide tobacco control networks, providing technical assistance to their efforts to reach out to and involve African American and other communities of color.
Ms. Smith was also a consultant to the RWJF Tobacco Policy Change program and the Galvanizing Communities to End Childhood Obesity initiative in which she provided technical assistance to grantees in the areas of community organizing, grassroots advocacy, and social justice issues. She currently serves as Southern States Strategist for the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.
Ms. Smith possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Colorado and a Masters degree in Human Resources Development from Webster University in St. Louis.