Come turn out for justice!
Tide Shift Turnout is Tide Shift Justice Project’s annual gathering bringing together criminal legal reform advocates, community leaders, organizers, and changemakers from across Delaware. Join us for an exciting evening as we reflect on the work we’ve accomplished and share what’s next! You’ll hear more about Tide Shift Justice Project’s work, connect with advocates from across the state, and find new ways to get involved in the fight to transform Delaware’s criminal legal system. Food and beverage will be served. RSVP here
Help us celebrate TSJP’s Shifty of The Year, Vonda “Smack” — Community Advocate, Organizer, Media Personality & Good Trouble Maker
Lovingly known as “The Mouth of Dover,” Vonda “Smack” is a fierce, unapologetic community advocate, organizer, media personality, and justice reform leader who has spent nearly 20 years refusing to be silent when her community needs a voice.
From government halls to neighborhood streets, Smack has built her reputation by showing up, speaking up, organizing people, and challenging systems that fail marginalized communities.
She currently serves as Chair of the Political Action Committee for the NAACP Central Delaware Branch, a Commissioner on the Delaware Human and Civil Rights Commission, and a Board Member of Peace Week Delaware. She also recently completed three years of service on the City of Dover Safety Advisory and Transportation Committee.
Professionally, Smack works with the ACLU of Delaware, organizing and advocating around criminal justice reform, racial disparities, civil liberties, public policy, and systemic change.
She is also Co-Founder of House of Peach, a women-centered nonprofit committed to amplifying women’s voices, stories, and lived experiences while creating spaces where women feel seen, heard, supported, empowered, and valued.
Her advocacy extends into media as Associate Editor of The R Report Magazine and Assistant Program Director for In Da Mix Radio, where she continues using her platform to amplify community voices and confront the issues others may be afraid to touch.
Smack’s fight is also deeply personal. Diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2022, she is a two-time survivor who is currently fighting Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Through chemotherapy, pain, procedures, and uncertainty, she has continued organizing, advocating, and making “good trouble.”
Through her Fight Like Smack initiative, she has turned her cancer journey into another form of advocacy—encouraging others to fight, speak up, get screened, and refuse to allow their diagnosis to erase their purpose.
For Smack, leadership is not about titles.
It is about showing up. Speaking truth. Building power. Opening doors. And shaking the table when necessary.
She is an organizer.
She is an advocate
She is a fighter.
She is a survivor.
She is a voice for her community.
They call her “The Mouth of Dover” for a reason—and she has absolutely no intention of getting quiet now.