Tech Innovator

VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Throughout the many pillars of Jacob Smith’s multifaceted work, one core building block connects it all: community.

“It all consolidates around this idea of community-building,” Smith, 33, of Detroit says of his personal and professional work.

From building tech ecosystems in Detroit, to growing early-stage startups, to organizing cross-cultural community events, Smith likes to practice intentional proximity, or bringing people together to increase the likelihood that connections will form.

“As opposed to bringing together a group of strangers, I firmly believe that a huge piece of the work is lowering the bar,” he explains, “and making it easy for people to be in proximity with one another.”

As a graduate of the University of Michigan’s school of business, Smith has worked on creating accessible communities for Detroiters and beyond since his college days.

“I had my own business and then my career fell into the technology side of the entrepreneurship spectrum,” he explains.

From there, most of Smith’s career was spent building tech startups, which brought him into the world of creating ecosystems around technology. Now, he runs a project called Collider for Altimetrik, where he hosts regular events and helps grow a community of ambitious tech innovators in the greater Detroit area.

“I think that is something that has always appealed to me,” he says of building community.

With inclusion top of mind, Smith says that even as a child, he didn’t want to see any kids left out on the playground. “It’s always been important to me.”

For several years, Smith has also served on the board for JCRC/AJC, which represents Metro Detroit’s Jewish community, Israel and Jews to the general community. He also served on NEXTGen Detroit’s board for nine years, stepping off as of this coming year.

With JCRC/AJC specifically, Smith focuses on building relationships between Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities. The Coalition Series, an effort supported by JCRC/AJC, The Well and the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, is arguably Smith’s biggest endeavor to date.

Through a collective of like-minded Black and Jewish Detroiters, the Coalition Series sets the stage for Shabbat dinner events and more where food is prepared by local chefs. At these events, Black and Jewish community members work on building connections and establishing a foundation of trust among younger generations.

While the Coalition Series saw a temporary pause due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Smith plans to bring events back and says people can expect something soon.

On May 1, Smith also led the Project Understanding initiative, a professional summit for young Jewish and Black Detroiters. After a pandemic delay, Smith was finally able to bring the event, which started in Atlanta in the 1980s, to life.

The full-day immersive program included a tour of Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities, taking in both histories and identifying where they overlapped.

One of the most fascinating overlaps that he learned about, Smith says, is the

involvement of the Jewish community in Detroit’s Underground Railroad. During the years of the Underground Railroad, members of the original Temple Beth El, Detroit’s first synagogue, helped supply resources to runaway slaves to assist in their escape.

“That really piqued my interest,” he explains. “It was so unexpected.”

Following the history tour, attendees of Project Understanding listened to guest speakers and walked away with what Smith calls an “elevated understanding of the ways that we are similar and different, and where there are opportunities and challenges for working together and moving forward.”

The feedback, Smith says, was “enormously positive” and garnered a lot of interest in continuing to build a foundation between the Black and Jewish communities.

“When people are really clicking and starting to connect as human beings … watching that relationship flourish, that’s the most rewarding to me,” Smith says.

Outside of his tech and community work, Smith is an avid lifelong drawer also working on building an art career. Drawing mazes and tangles with pens, Smith is presenting his first art gallery show in Pontiac at 46 North, which will be on display from June 17-26.

“Over COVID-19, I started to realize that people responded positively to it,” he says of his art. “It was a way that I could bring joy to people, and I was doing something that I also enjoyed.”

Smith plans to continue drawing and see where this new journey takes him.

“It’s representative of what I want to be doing next,” he says. “I really want to step up and take this seriously.”

This Special Exhibit explores the life and work of a Czech Jewish artist who used art and satire as tools of adaptation and resistance while imprisoned in Theresienstadt. It features 134 original paintings and drawings. Open now to December 31.