Erica Smitka

Acting Executive Director
Most recently, Erica worked as a Senior Grants/Contracts Specialist and Program Coordinator at Policy Research Associates, Inc. She worked to expand the reach of PRA’s projects through the development of proposals, management of contracts, and evaluation of programmatic funds, while also managing the Social Security Administration’s ARDRAW Program.

Throughout the years she has worked with a number of non-profits in a variety of capacities – in development offices, doing direct program work, strategic planning, and developing frameworks for data-driven decision making. Erica earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA), with a focus on non-profit management, from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Prior to attending graduate school, Erica worked as an organizer and campaign director for Grassroots Campaigns, Inc., where she fundraised for non-profits and worked on a variety of political campaigns in California, Colorado, and Massachusetts.

Erica holds her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from SUNY Geneseo, with a dual minor in Africana Studies and Anthropology. As an Albany native with a passion for grassroots activism, Erica is thrilled to join the League.