Demone Smith has been active in Buffalo’s education, civic responsibility and political awareness of the community. Demone began is activism upon his arrival back home from college where he joined Citizen Action and the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) that was successful in fighting for afterschool funding in 2000.
Since then he was an active member with Citizen Action participating in conferences, workshops, direct actions including the successful Code of Conduct for the Buffalo Public Schools that began in 2011.
Demone became a member of the Buffalo City Common Council in 2008 and was elected Majority Leader in 2012. During his tenure as Council Member, Demone has passed key pieces of legislation dedicated to improving the welfare of others and having a sincere compassion to the constituents he serves.
In 2012 he was Chair of the Education Committee for the Common Council of the City of Buffalo. During his time as Chair the Education Committee became the most watched program on public access. Most recently he, the Education Committee of Citizen Action and Community Partners advocated for and was successful in persuading the Buffalo Board of Education to have Virtual Learning Sites in the City of Buffalo as a response to COVID.