Anthony Smith joins St. Michaels Community Center

Anthony Smith of Tilghman, Maryland has been named Community Engagement Coordinator at the St. Michaels Community Center.

​In this new role, Smith is responsible for fostering meaningful relationships between the Community Center and its stakeholders, including residents, donors, volunteers, and local businesses, and ensuring the services provided are relevant and effective in helping to improve the lives of those in the Bay Hundred and St. Michaels areas.

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“I’m very much looking forward to fortifying the connections between SMCC and the community in this role,” says Smith. “Serving as a liaison, I will be actively listening to the needs and concerns of community members to help align the center's programs and initiatives with our community needs.”

The St. Michaels Community Center’s programs for children and adults have been recently put on pause due to the complete renovations now underway of its building at 103 Railroad Avenue, with a focus on outreach events until the renovations are completed in early 2024.

Smith recently retired as St. Michaels Police Chief after more than 40 years serving in law enforcement and has served two terms on the St. Michaels Community Center’s Board of Directors. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University and his Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs in College Park.

“Tony is a great asset to our community and has always been connected with the Community Center through our work with the S.M.Y.L.E program and more,” said SMCC Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “He will keep the pulse on our community's evolving needs to ensure our work has the most impact on people's lives.”

SMCC’s current renovations will provide state-of-the-art spaces for more children and adult programs, including a new culinary and hospitality workforce training program. The renovated Community Center will include several classrooms and a large common area for community gatherings, complete with audio-visual technology for presentations and screenings.

The renovations also include a modern, well-equipped commercial kitchen, where SMCC will train people for jobs in restaurants and hotels, and from which the Center can continue to serve and deliver prepared meals and tens of thousands of bags of groceries to those in need.

“Our Community Café and Food Pantry are core to our mission, and we want to strengthen our relationships with the people we serve, in addition to those in our community at large,” said Rofe. “Tony is a known and respected leader and is already helping us achieve more outreach during his part-time work with us.”

Rofe says initiatives that Smith is working on include partnering with S.M.Y.L.E. and the Perkins Family YMCA on a CPR and babysitting training program for middle schoolers. He says Smith has been instrumental in SMCC also joining forces with Union United Methodist Church to introduce a pumpkin painting contest and bring back the pie-making contest for the Fall into St. Michaels festival.

Donations to the St. Michaels Community Center’s annual fund and proceeds from its Treasure Cove Thrift Shop, located on Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels, help provide essential human services, programs, and community events for people in St. Michaels and from throughout Maryland’s Bay Hundred area, with more at www.stmichaelscc.org.

More about SMCC's building renovations and new programming is at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.