Dec. 5, 2023

Ratasha Smith is an advocacy committee co-chair of the Young Professionals group of the National Urban League attached to the Charlotte affiliate. Her presentation followed an event the advocacy group held with a delegation of police officers. That event was set up following a video going viral showing police using force in making an arrest. The officers could not comment on the specifics of that event because it is being investigated.

Most of the discussion in the video below covers the work of the Young Professionals, which is an arm of the League that Smith says focuses on holding events – some involving community engagement and education, some purely social. Smith said the age group, 21-40, is more heavily drawn to the social events.

At a number of points during the hour, however, the true subject was a timely if never-ending one – what works when the goal is to engage young adults, many of whom did not grow up in Charlotte, in the work of helping the community and its residents and businesses and neighborhoods prosper. Two months into her role as co-chair of the advocacy committee, Smith is not yet full of answers. But she is clearly in search of the right set of answers for herself and all the friends she has made in the Young Professionals group.