Program empowers Danville girls

BY TARA BOZICK
Media General News Service

One Danville woman wants to help empower middle school and high school girls to reach their full potential.
Katina Davis initiated the start of a Young Women Leaders Program in Danville in 2005. Because of low participation, she is revamping the program through monthly workshops where girls can delve into issues like teen dating violence awareness, teen pregnancy prevention, diversity, perception of women and striving for academic excellence.
Speakers and experts will conduct the information seminars and Davis will moderate a dialogue among participants within limitations and boundaries, she said.
“Choices - the children don’t realize choices play a large part in whether your life will be of substance or disaster,“ Davis said. “It’s all about the choices you make.“
Davis has four teenage daughters and a son and witnesses how negativity among young people weighs them down. She would like to help change that by teaching leadership development skills, confidence and addressing self-esteem issues. Mainly, youth can come together, get real and talk about the issues that may most affect their lives and sense of self.
Davis needed help in those areas as a young person, she admits. The motivation for the program comes from her own journey.
At 14 years old, Davis became pregnant with her oldest child. She allowed sex to become a way she identified herself and felt like she had “no one in her corner” back then.
Eventually, Little Life Pregnancy Medical Center is where she “got saved.“
“Thank God, glory be to God,“ Davis told attendees of a Tuesday night YWLP meeting.
Davis started working in the Westwood Middle School cafeteria and worked her way through the school system to security officer at George Washington High School. In her spare time, she started a “My Sister’s Keeper” group in 1999 in her apartment where young women talked about their struggles, dreams and their kids. She developed a youth center in that apartment complex while she lived there.
She found working with youth was therapeutic and healing. Eventually, her informal meetings blossomed into developing a sister site in Danville for the YWLP, which was founded at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville as an after-school mentoring program.
Davis still carries the dream of developing a youth center. For now, the YWCA downtown houses the YWLP meetings. Donations, fundraisers and out-of-pocket expenses pay for the activities.
In April, Davis will bring to fruition the event she’s been envisioning for the past seven years: a “Girls Day Out Summit.“
In March, DOVES Inc. plans to partner with YWLP to talk about relationships, sexual assault and teen dating violence awareness. Upon hearing Davis’ goals on Tuesday night, DOVES sexual assault coordinator Sheila Jacobs said she wished such a program existed for her when she was growing up.
“I think it’s a very much needed program,“ said early childhood education instructor Sheryl Lashley. “There couldn’t be a better person for the program, with her compassion.“
Davis hopes to introduce young women to role models of the community and asks parents to keep attentive of their children. She would like to uplift the youth who accomplish positive deeds.
“Part of why I do what I do, I know I’m not perfect,“ Davis said. “When I see children, I see potential.“
Tara Bozick is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.
If You Go
Girls Day Out Summit on April 3: Girls ages 13-16 can share their experiences and concerns. Parents are encouraged to attend.
For more information on the Young Women Leaders Program monthly workshops or summit, call Katina Davis at (434) 548-5541 or e-mail .