Kennedy Smith
Kennedy Smith helps communities create innovative, implementable economic development strategies for city centers and neighborhood commercial corridors.
As a partner in the Community Land Use and Economics Group for 15 years, and as the director of the National Main Street Center for 14 years before that, she has worked with hundreds of communities of all sizes throughout the US and abroad. In 2020, she joined the staff of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative as a senior researcher, where her work focuses on leveling the playing field for small businesses and on building strong local economies.
Kennedy has won numerous accolades for her work, including being honored by Planetizen.com as one of the “100 Most Influential Urbanists of All Time” (2017) and one of the “100 Top Urban Thinkers” (2009). Fast Company magazine included her in its first list of “Fast 50 Champions of Innovation”, recognizing “creating thinkers whose sense of style and power of persuasion change what our world looks like and how our products perform.” Her work has been featured in news media ranging from Business Week and The New York Times to “CBS Sunday Morning” and “The Donohue Show.”
In addition to her work with ILSR and the CLUE Group, Kennedy teaches a graduate-level course in historic preservation economics at Goucher College.