Evan Smith is a Vice President on the Network Success Team at Purpose Built Communities, a nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing resident-centered, holistic neighborhood revitalization. Evan provides consulting and technical assistance to local leaders, assisting them in implementing Purpose Built’s proven neighborhood revitalization strategy designed to create a healthy, mixed-income neighborhood with pathways to prosperity.Before joining Purpose Built, Evan served as an educator and teacher coach. As a teacher, he led his students to achieve significant academic progress. As a manager and program director at Teach For America, he developed and led professional development efforts on both a regional and national level to increase classroom rigor and student achievement. He began his career as a 7th grade math teacher and soccer coach in Edcouch, Texas. He continues to support schools in a volunteer capacity in Atlanta, serving as Community Engagement Co-Chair and Saturday Show-up Coordinator at The Nest Nursery School and School Performance Committee Member at Charles R. Drew Charter School. Evan graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science. He has also completed the Senior Leaders Program for Nonprofit Professionals certificate program at Columbia Business School.Born and raised in LaBelle, Florida, Evan loves outdoor adventures. He has hiked more than 600 miles of the Appalachian Trail with plans to hike the entire trail, paddled all the Wilderness Waterway (in Everglades NP), and summited Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States.