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David B. Smith

Executive Director

David B. Smith is the Executive Director of the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). Founded in 1946 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1953, NCoC defines modern citizenship through tracking, measuring and promoting civic engagement with the goal of building a more informed, engaged, giving and trusting citizenry. NCoC’s work enhances history and civics education, encourages national and community service, and promotes greater participation in the political process.

Prior to joining NCoC, David founded and directed Mobilize.org, a national organization that improves democracy by investing in Millennial led solutions. Under his tenure, Mobilize.org expanded from a team of 10 students to over 30,000 activists in over 200 communities and published the acclaimed Mobilizer's Guidebook and Democracy 2.0 Declaration.

David currently serves as the co-founder and Vice Chair of the Youth Policy Action Center (YPAC), an award winning website that serves as a central hub for legislative action alerts pertaining to youth issues for over 100 national organizations and 30,000 online advocates.

David has been honored with awards including the Independent Sector’s “American Express NGen Fellowship”, YouthVote Coalition’s “30 under 30” and the International Youth Foundation’s “YouthActionNet Fellowship” for social entrepreneurship. He has been quoted in many magazines, blogs, and newspapers, including the New York Times, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Orange County Register, Dallas Morning Star, Miami Herald, Washington Times, Huffington Post, NPR’s Marketplace, and Cspan. He has been featured in books including the Millennial Manifesto and Generation We, and has published an essay in Rebooting America.

David serves as Chairman of Mobilize.org, Treasurer for Prepare the Future, Director of Common Sense California, and Trustee of Americans for Generational Equity. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Splashlife, and on the Steering Committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools.

David graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. While at Cal, he taught a class on National Youth Policy and researched the causes and possible solutions to the “Youth Civic Engagement Crisis in America.”
Should Americans Have to Earn Their Citizenship? @ericpliu asked at #NCoC (http://t.co/jrRkbUO2) & now in the Atlantic: http://t.co/IYBUCBmI 2 days ago reply
The awesome program, @CityYear, is hiring an Executive Director for its New York corps! http://t.co/8IfbJobm #jobs #service #nyc 3 days ago reply
Will Millennials Make a Difference in the Florida Primary? @PolicyMic | Jake Horowitz http://t.co/GdgIW6A2 4 days ago reply
Congrats to @StrongerDemocracy on hiring a new executive director, Peter Hardie: http://t.co/6VzkwHg6 4 days ago reply