Former Muskegon mayor Blanche Smith is the 2009 Lakeshore Athena Award recipient

By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle

Blanche Smith, the recipient of the 2009 Lakeshore Athena Award, has had many firsts in her public career.

She began as the first of 14 children in her family to go to college. She followed that up as the first African American woman on the Muskegon Public School Board of Education.

Smith, the current executive director of the Muskegon Family Services Workforce Development Center, went on to become the first African American member of the Muskegon City Commission and eventually the city’s first African American woman mayor.

“She has a ready smile and an open heart for people in need,” said Judith Hayner, the executive director of the Muskegon Museum of Art and the 2008 Lakeshore Athena Award recipient, while introducing Smith on Tuesday.

Smith is the fifth to be honored with the Lakeshore Athena Award, designed to celebrate women in leadership positions from Holland to Muskegon, who have made a difference in their communities and in mentoring other women.

The Athena Award is co-sponsored by the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce, The Chamber in Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Ferrysburg, and the Holland Area Chamber of Commerce.

Smith was selected for the honor from among 24 nominees from across the Lakeshore region at a luncheon Tuesday at the Trillium Gilmore Collection Banquet & Conference Center in Ferrysburg. It was an emotional moment for her to share with the more than 350 attendees.

“Born in a family of 14, hard work is what we always had,” Smith said in honoring her parents and her family. Smith and husband of 42 years, Richard, have nine children and more than 35 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“As in the past years, it was a challenge for the selection committee to designate just one of the highly-qualified nominees as this year’s recipient,” said Dwana Thompson, chairperson of the selection committee and affirmative action director with the city of Muskegon. “We are honored to have so many women in the Lakeshore area who are dedicated to improving the communities where they live, and work and who seek opportunities to assist women in reaching their full potential.”

Of the four other Lakeshore Athena Award recipients, three have been from Muskegon County: Former Norton Shores Mayor Nancy Crandall; retired Hackley Visiting Nurses Executive Director Nancy McCarthy; and Hayner.

Smith was elected to the Muskegon school board in 1984, the Muskegon City Commission in 1988 and mayor in 1995. As mayor, she worked closely on governmental collaboration with other municipalities on issues such as urban sprawl and development of the U.S. 31 corridor.

Professionally, she has worked in the areas of early childhood education and family services for more than 30 years. She began working on welfare reform issues in Muskegon County in 1994, which led to the development of the Muskegon Family Services Center downtown.

The multi-agency, neighborhood-based human services center is a Michigan Works! employment and training outlet. Smith has developed a chartacter-building, abstinence-based program “Girl Talk 101” and a “Dads Only” initiative for young fathers.

The Athena program also provides college scholarships for women older than 30 who are beginning or continuing their higher education. The scholarship winners this year include Selma Bryant, a student at Muskegon Community College and Tawanda McDaniel and Brenda Schuchardt, both of Baker College of Muskegon.

The luncheon speaker was Kent County Chief District Judge Sara Smolenski, the 2006 Kent County Athena Award recipient. Smolenski provided an energetic and humorous message of “desire, determination and drive” — a life-philosophy she has embraced since being a member of the University of Michigan women’s basketball team in the mid-1970s.