Anwar Smith

Anwar Smith is the Managing Director of Program Operations for By The Hand Club for Kids, a Christian ministry in Chicago that employs nearly 140 staff and serves over 1,500 students. Prior to that, he served as a Director for a large non-profit organization where he provided oversight and consultation to 26 community centers around the greater Chicagoland area.  At one point, he lived and worked in Wisconsin at a ministry to at-risk youth who were referred by the court. In his “spare” time Smith is an Associate Pastor at his church and has an extensive letter-writing ministry to inmates in prison. Anwar has an M.Ed in Educational Psychology from UIC and he holds a BA in Christian Education from Taylor University. 

Anwar currently resides in Lansing, IL with his wife Michelle and their two children; together as a family they are actively involved in the foster care system and have housed many children over the past 10 years.