Whittney Smith is Deputy Director and General Counsel for Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, where she seeks economic justice first for North Lawndale residents. Her leadership is rooted in the conviction that communities closest to the challenges must hold the power to shape solutions. As a community development practitioner, she has become a powerful voice elevating the structural realities facing disadvantaged communities, including historic disinvestment, fragmented land ownership, and barriers to capital, while advancing strategies to restore community control and economic opportunity.
She intentionally pursued education and career opportunities that would allow her to bring knowledge and tools back to North Lawndale. Her work spans trade, business, legislation, and access to capital. During law school at American University, she studied international trade law and traveled to El Salvador to learn about cooperative business ownership. She later served as a legal intern in Chile, where she apprenticed with a firm specializing in international law related to Indigenous property and human rights. Returning to the United States, she worked for Congressmen Davis and Clay, and then for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.