Timber Smith Promotes Community & Belonging

APPLETON, WI- (WISS) – Belonging, community and culture, all things that make Timber Smith a formidable force in the Fox Valley community. Smith works for the City of Appleton as the Special Assistant to the Mayor for Community, Culture and Belonging. He also co-hosts the city’s Appleton Engaged podcast. 

Smith says his job is to create a more connected community for all Appleton residents.

“We’re just people, and we want good things for our families. We want safety, and we want good schools for our kids. And we want a good job that we feel respected in,” said Smith. “We’re not different! So when I’m doing these podcasts, I’m hoping to strip back some of the layers to show through narrative, through answering of questions, that we sure share a whole lot together. That’s what makes us a community. And we should probably take care of each other.”

As a black man working within the Fox Valley community, he appreciates Black History Month efforts, and especially likes stories that feature a modern, everyday look at African-American lives.

“Because there are so many stereotypes and so many sometimes just blatantly wrong narratives associated with African-Americans in the country – To have a spotlight of us just being and doing what every other American does, I think there’s just so much to that, that needs to be acknowledged more and celebrated more,” He said. “ Sometimes it’s not about the extraordinary. Sometimes it is very much about the ordinary.”

While Black History Month efforts are a positive, Smith sees more that can be done to bring the community into belonging.

“If we could just have our real stories and our real narratives, not just the ones that, that serve certain purposes in our schools, but those that actually show how we were an intricate foundational part of building this country so we can be as proud as anyone else,” Smith said, “that’s what I would love to really happen. And I just need that to be year round!”

Outside of Smith’s work for Community, Culture and Belonging in Appleton, he also extends his reach to the entire Fox Valley Community with his personal podcast, The Kosh.

“Community doesn’t have borders,” Smith said. “And there was interest. Especially since I work in Appleton, but live in Oshkosh, there were people who are interested in hearing people talk. We all know each other. We’re really close cousins in the Fox Cities region.”

Smith serves on multiple local boards and as Vice President of the Sigma Upsilon Lambda Alumni Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, promoting leadership, service, and community growth.

For connecting community, promoting services, and encouraging belonging for all living in the Fox Valley area, Timber Smith is a modern-day black history maker!