Paul David Smith

Paul David Smith is an educator and community advocate, originally from Washington, D.C.  Before joining the Los Angeles County team, he served as the Director of Legitimacy and Reconciliation at the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College of Criminal Justice — where he also directed the Chicago Violence Reduction Strategy.  Prior to that, Paul served in the City of Chattanooga, TN as the Public Safety Coordinator after serving as the Executive Principal of The Howard School, making noteworthy strides in educational achievement, raising test scores and graduation rates significantly from 46% to 88.6% in five years.

Paul believes in developing partnerships focusing on building safer communities together.  He is married with three children.  He is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity where he has served in several leadership roles.

Paul has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Education from Trevecca Nazarene University.  He is currently a doctoral candidate in the Leadership Studies program at Johnson University with a dissertation focus on community-based violence intervention.