Jamaal Smith, MPA

Jamaal Smith is a violence prevention manager in the Office of Violence Prevention. As a proud native of Milwaukee and graduate of Milwaukee Public Schools, Jamaal has committed the last 10 years of his life to serving the Milwaukee community. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Alabama State University and his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Phoenix. Jamaal’s previous roles have included serving as education chair for the NAACP Milwaukee and youth organizer at Safe and Sound Inc. He has also worked in collaboration with Schools and Communities United, Journey 4 Justice in Chicago and Metropolitan Milwaukee Alliance for Black School Educators, where he served as a board member. He most recently served as the racial justice community engagement manager at the YWCA Southeast Wisconsin. In this role Jamaal advocated for legislation that supported racial equity for communities of color on a local, state and national level. He built a health care cohort with institutions such as Froedtert, MCW and Aurora-Advocate to discuss increasing employment access in understanding communities. His work also included building partnerships with Fair Housing Council, UEDA, Wisconsin Voices, National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), MMAC, M7 and Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM). In his current role Jamaal manages community engagement, policy advocacy and implementation of the Blueprint for Peace. He also supports the advancement of neighborhood and community-based violence prevention efforts.