Everyday Heroes: E. Nikki Davis

“From the age of 4,” she says, “I thought I was a social worker. Of course, I didn’t know what that was at the time, but I was always bringing kids back to our home in West Virginia. I would hold ‘school’ to teach them things I had learned, I would bring a kid who had no shoes home and ask my mother if we could help somehow.”

E. Nikki Davis is reflecting on the roots of a 34-year career with MYCAP that ended with her retirement in 2009. She is known to all at MYCAP as “The Cheerleader” for her unfailing dedication to and enthusiasm for her work.

“As I grew older,” says Nikki, “I knew that I would always fight for people’s rights, whether it was civil rights, women’s rights….most of all, the poor were always on my mind. I had a passion to make sure that people were not suffering…that’s something that’s just built into me.”

It was November 1975 when Nikki first came to MYCAP’s predecessor organization, the Youngstown Community Action Agency. She says:

I’m not originally from this area, though of course I knew that Youngstown was a steel town. I hadn’t been with the agency for too long before we had ‘Black Monday,’ with the mills closing. Suddenly people who had never before needed the kind of services we provided needed them very much.

My title at that time was Parent Involvement Social Services Coordinator for Head Start. In working with the Head Start parents as well as their children, I really got to see first-hand that there were many other needs area families had in addition to the ones we were trying to meet through Head Start’s educational services.

We knew that we had to begin partnering with other agencies in the community and expand our offerings to meet all of those needs. At the same time, our challenge was to make families in need aware that this help was available to them. Many of the programs we’re best-known for today, such as the WIC nutritional program or the HEAP home heating assistance program, hadn’t started yet, but we did have senior programs, Neighborhood Outreach and other initiatives.

While stressing the importance of the specific programs that were put in place over the years to help those in need, Nikki also will never forget the human side of the equation.

I’ve been an advocate for people in need all my life, because they are not always able to control what is put upon them. It’s generational, sometimes, and sometimes it’s more immediate, like changing economic conditions. The first thing I learned was to never make judgments, because “There but for the grace of God go I.”

At the same time, I’ve gained so much wisdom from the many families I’ve worked with over the years…from all members of a household, old and young. Some of them never got past the 8th grade, but they have so much common sense, and most of all, the will to make ends meet and to fight for their families…to make sure that their kids would have some kind of family background. And I learned from the children too, about resiliency, about just being able to survive in situations where abuse or other very bad conditions were present.

When asked about her role as a cheerleader for MYCAP and its programs, Nikki responds:

I wanted to and was willing to do anything I could to make sure families understood how exciting the programs were, and how much they could benefit by them. I used to dress up as a clown, march in parades…in more recent years I even dressed up as Spongebob Squarepants!

I wasn’t going to just sit behind a desk and say “Well, here’s our programs” with no enthusiasm behind it. I was excited about all MYCAP had to offer, and I wanted the parents and kids to catch that excitement and realize what MYCAP could do to help improve their lives.

I was the same way with our MYCAP staff. I would jump up at meetings and try to get everyone fired up, to get them believing in the programs we offered. And I would talk to our staffers one-on-one, too…our teachers, our drivers, anyone, to try to get them excited and involved in what they were doing. I’ve always believed that you have to have enthusiasm in order to sell something.

The legacy of all those years of enthusiasm is evident whenever Nikki drops by the MYCAP offices to visit, as she still does frequently. Staffers surround her, and there are lots of hugs and good wishes as she catches up on the latest MYCAP news.

All of us at MYCAP are so grateful to Nikki for all she’s done for our organization, and for the thousands of families she’s helped in the course of her career. MYCAP has many Everyday Heroes, but Nikki will always be at the top of the list!

posted by MYCAP Info @ 2:21 PM   0 Comments