Susan Diane Mitchell

Susan Diane Mitchell

Susan Diane Mitchell (born February 2, 1980 in Washington D.C.) is an educator and community activist. She is the founder and co-executive director of the Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust, and is a former officer of the East Thomas Neighborhood Association.

Mitchell attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, as an honors program scholar. She graduated with a dual degree in English and Spanish from Jacksonville State University. She holds a master of arts in English and American literature from UAB, and has completed a year of doctorate work in transformative studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Mitchell was formerly an instructor at Lawson State Community College and UAB. Mitchell is a resident and homeowner in the East Thomas neighborhood of Birmingham. She is a mother of nine children, all of whom have attended Birmingham City Schools.

In 2014 she began co-organizing community education workshops as a part of the Birmingham Institute for Social Change, a program of the Magic City Agriculture Project. She was elected neighborhood secretary of the East Thomas Neighborhood Association in 2016, and served in that role from 2016 to 2018. She founded the Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust in 2016, and currently serves as its co-executive director. In 2017 she became a co-founder of SWEET Alabama, where she still serves as a member of the advisory board. As a member of of AmeriCorps, she served with Urban Ministries, the YWCA Central Alabama, and The Literacy Council.

On May 26, 2021 she announced her candidacy for the Birmingham Board of Education, representing District 9.