Danae Davis and Parvathi Santhosh-Kumar

[00:02] DANAE DAVIS: My name is Danae Davis. I'm 64 years old, and today's date is Thursday, November 14, 2019. And we're in Chicago. The name of my interview partner is the lovely Parv. And we are very strong leader, colleagues in the struggle.

[00:24] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Love it. I am Parv and I am 30 years old. Today's date is Thursday, November 14, 2019. We're here in Chicago, which is amazing. I'm here with the wonderful Danae, and we are colleagues working together for equity and justice. So we have known each other for almost five years, I think, and we met each other when you started working at Milwaukee Succeeds. So can you start by telling us a little bit about what your connection to Milwaukee is and what brought you there in the first place?

[00:57] DANAE DAVIS: You know, it's a cute story I tell all the time because my family, as I said before, are from Chicago. My mom married my stepfather. We moved to Louisville. And I always say that we stopped in Milwaukee and never made it back to Chicago, which is probably not true, but it always makes everybody laugh. So that's how we got to Milwaukee. I was in high school, but I've lived there almost my entire life. And I think that what it's like to be there is constant struggle with equity. I seem to have a million stories that I can think of throughout the time I've been there.

[01:36] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Before we get to the struggle, what do you enjoy most about Milwaukee?

[01:40] DANAE DAVIS: Oh, my God, the summer. And the reason is because there's so much to do outside. I'm kind of a. Well, I am a summer solstice baby. And I just love being out in parks on the lake. I love eating outdoors. I just love the beauty of it all. And Milwaukee has so much music. Just all kind of fun things to do. People seem to like each other better. You know, they spend time together. There's a lot more laughter. There's a lot more diversity. You know, in all respects, people come out. That's what I love most.

[02:17] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Come out for the music, come out for the. And what do you want to change about the city?

[02:24] DANAE DAVIS: I want to change the way that we accept racial inequities in all ways, particularly between black and white. I really want to change how we feel about that so that we actually do something about that as a community. Because it's so pervasive. It's been so persistent. It's so. I mean, just today there was another study. Worst place for black people. I mean, how many more of those do we have to see and hear and read about before we say enough of this, you know, Milwaukee is better than that. So that's what I want from Milwaukee.

[03:04] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: I'm curious, what is that change gonna look like from your. Like, what do you see as the possibility for that change?

[03:11] DANAE DAVIS: You know, what inspires me is because I see that change in young people. Their expectations are far different than the persistency we older people exhibit around holding on to or accepting or being resilient or being survivors of. I think they're more demanding. So what I'm excited about is that we, in the work that we're doing, get to encourage that, inspire that, give power to that meaning, young people's voice in action. It shows up in political. It shows up in nonprofits. It shows up in business. And that's what inspires me. I know it can happen. Just don't know quite when.

[04:01] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: So you joined Milwaukee Succeeds, which is part of the Strive Together, Cradled a career network about five years ago. What made you decide to take on that work?

[04:10] DANAE DAVIS: Oh, my goodness. I drank the Kool Aid of Better Together, if you will. The notion that a partnership comprised of everyone who can influence change, including systems owners, can actually make a difference in ways they cannot do alone. That if they unite around a common cause, that if they use data and information to guide what will really make meaningful change and results, be different for everyone, that you actually can get somewhere, that policy can be changed, that resources can be devoted. And once I understood the model, I said, this is what will help Milwaukee. And I wanted to be a part of it.

[04:54] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: How's your job different than what most people think it might be? Working at a nonprofit, doing collaboration?

[05:01] DANAE DAVIS: You know, it's so evident that we, or I operate as an influencer. I don't control nothing. I can't make nothing happen. I can, though, figure out people and what makes them move, pair them, connect them together, get them to commit to very specific strategies. These are things I can do because it's the power of my personality. It's my commitment I draw. I'm a driver, But I'm also someone that people feel trust, they can trust. And so when I can use all of that and everybody knows that it's not about me, you know, I'm not doing, oh, this is Danae on her climb or any such thing. They say she's really genuine and she's persistent. So I think that's what my job really is, is being persistent, you know, challenging us to be better, being able to tell the stories in ways that reach people.

[06:00] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: I feel like that urgency is part of your superpower. Like, if I think about your genius. It's like maintaining that sense of urgency and pulling people's feet to the fire and keeping them believing that change is possible.

[06:14] DANAE DAVIS: Thank you, Parv. I like that part, too.

[06:17] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah. What keeps you motivated since this work is so hard?

[06:21] DANAE DAVIS: The young people. I feel that we. And you talked about the sense of urgency. You know, we've lost a lot of ground in a lot of generations by being passive and looking the other way. And worse. I feel as though our children, and particularly are black and brown and male. I worked in, as you may remember, with an organization with girth that work for girls. So I'm absolutely certain that girl powers really, really important, too. But the disparities most acute in Milwaukee are as they affect our black boys and young men. So I feel like, you know, we better get on it and pretty soon.

[07:11] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah. Time's not going to stop.

[07:13] DANAE DAVIS: No. And, you know, our community can't get better. See, this is the thing people should realize. Our community cannot get better if we continue to sort of hold people back through, you know, the barriers and the structural racism and all of those things. Flip it. If everybody can be successful, imagine what our community is going to be. And I say community, the city of Milwaukee, the county, the region. So there's just so much that argues in favor of. It's so hard to be like we are right now. It could be far easier if we weren't.

[07:53] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: If we actually tapped into the full potential of everyone in our places, we could do so much more. I loved having the opportunity to see you grow during the Strive Together Leadership program a few years ago, where you were working with other leaders across our cradle to career network and learning and growing together to work towards equitable results. What's one of your favorite memories from that experience?

[08:19] DANAE DAVIS: You know, I think one of my favorite, favorite, favorite memories from that experience was, and I think it was journey mapping we did. And so Mary Jean, who also from Chicago, but I think it was Skokie is where she's from. And so we have. We realized, A, we're the same age. B, it's almost like we grew up on the opposite side of the track, literally. So she grew up with racism being A. Okay. And she has some very painful memories of things that she used to do and be involved in. I, on the other hand, was a community activist. I was raised, you know, with Operation Breadbasket and Push and all that kind of stuff. And I just remember the fear, the anger of what racism feels like, you know, when you're the recipient of it. So we were doing this journey mapping which required us to go back to the womb and all the way to your current. And as we mapped and you paired up with person, I paired up with Mary Jean. And as you went through each phase, we were so connected without knowing each other. It was one of the most. And here we're both in leadership roles where we're trying to change systems to be more equitable and just for people. I'm almost crying just even thinking about when she and I arrived at that point in our discovery about each other. And that was during the senior leadership program. It has not only moved us then it remains something you'll never forget and the inspiration of what can happen.

[10:12] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah, it's so powerful to see two really amazing lady leaders in our network. Finding each other and using each other as a source of strength is almost what it feels like. And that like that can continue to energize and feed that flame.

[10:34] DANAE DAVIS: Yep.

[10:34] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: It's so exciting.

[10:35] DANAE DAVIS: And she's in Seattle or in that area, so who would have thought our paths were crossed? But for being in the network, the Strive Together network, and being in the accelerator fund, you know, cohort that we were in, it was kind of amazing. Like it was supposed to happen. Yeah, yeah.

[10:55] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: People working on the same, people working towards the same goals. I feel like that's part of what the movement is about in terms of like we are part of this Strive Together Cradle to Career network, this movement of hundreds of leaders across the country working on behalf of 13.7 million young people, 8.7 million young people of color in 70 communities across the country.

[11:17] DANAE DAVIS: Amazing. Amazing.

[11:19] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: That scale, right. Has so much power and potential.

[11:22] DANAE DAVIS: Yep.

[11:23] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: How does it feel knowing you're part of this national movement and that you're part of the fabric?

[11:29] DANAE DAVIS: It feels powerful. It feels determined. Like we really will do something because of the magnitude of it. But it's not just the magnitude how many and, and the fact that it's representative of every area in the United States. It's also the way that we are disciplined about how we share learning. So this is the tough stuff we're talking. Not just how educational systems fail our children or what it will take for them to be successful from cradle through their post secondary careers. But what are those, you know, contextual systems, housing and transportation and mental health and incarceration and all of those, what are those other. How do they intersect and how do we get engage those systems owners in the solution? Because we've discovered together it isn't just about being in the education world. You Know what I mean?

[12:35] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: We can't keep our blinders on and just focus on creating great education systems.

[12:40] DANAE DAVIS: So when you see that magnitude, that momentum, that movement, and you see that we can influence, you can actually see the pathway to influencing those other systems that affect our children and our young people and their families. So the power of it is like exponentially multiplied. Yeah, yeah. And we don't give up. We never give up. We just keep working at it continuously. So. Yeah.

[13:12] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Finding strength in each other and moving the goal even higher and higher always.

[13:16] DANAE DAVIS: Because as long as there is the have, have nots where our work is not done right. So, you know, that's, that's the motivation. And I think when we can get government and philanthropy to be much more strategic about the use of resources. And I think we're seeing some positive examples of that work happening in my community, but around the country, that's sustaining. That's when you know this is changing the way of life in terms of how things work for people.

[13:52] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: We're actually seeing that it's possible to create that lasting change. And there are examples of it all over the country, which is really inspiring. This work really is about people coming together to create that lasting change, particularly for kids of color and people of color. What change for Milwaukee's kids are you most proud of?

[14:13] DANAE DAVIS: Well, I think there's so many things that affect change today, but I'm looking forward to the things that are happening now that will affect long term. So when I look at that, I'm looking at how early childhood education people are starting to get the difference between empowering parents and families to be participants in the development of their children's brains at the earliest point, in vitro through year two, and making it easy for them to be empowered in that respect. I think that's got long term positives that I look forward to for our children in Milwaukee. We've seen some really good results in terms of access to quality care. We've seen some really good results with respect to our high schoolers having the funds that they'll need in order to go to college or to get certification or however they want to see their future to be. We've seen unified partners across sectors working in the same direction for years. So not chasing shiny toys. That is a really big deal for children in Milwaukee. Just the other day, our mayor spontaneously talked about Milwaukee succeeds and how important our new priorities, not our new, but our focus on priorities over the next three years is so important for this community. And he talked about early childhood and he talked about High school completion. And I was like, is that our mayor talking? Like he really gets what we're doing? I don't mean to sound like that. I probably shouldn't have put it that way. But I think, I guess the point I wanted to make is that everybody who gets introduced to our partnership wants it to be successful. It takes them a bit of a journey to understand what it is. So they'll come to meetings, they'll have the nice lunches. But what exactly is this partnership? What is what? Not the secret sauce, but what is their role in it? And once it lands on them, then they're hooked and they stay. So I know that's a long answer, but I think that Milwaukee is poised for really making change.

[16:35] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah, it really comes down to like walking the talk in a way, because it's one thing to get people bought into the vision. And it's like, who could not be about the vision of every child cradled to career, but then getting people to actually step up and own their piece of the puzzle and own their contribution, that's when the real change happens. What's another example of something you're proud of that you've been able to accomplish?

[16:59] DANAE DAVIS: I'm proud of the growth in the team in terms of their skills and their leadership. And leadership looks different. You know, we're getting closer and closer to being understanding what our roles, the spread of our roles are. And the more that we do that, I think the more impactful we're being. I am very proud of our funders collaborative model where we've got major funders, corporate and family philanthropy, investing their resources together around aligned strategies. And I know that sounds. But that is the power of that is they're not just doing charity. They actually are trying to invest in what works. That is a huge deal. That's a game changing shift, if you will. I'm proud of the fact that our, excuse me, our higher ed partners, 18 two and four year private and public institutions are united. They call themselves the Higher Education Regional alliance around common goals of college completion with no disparities. I mean, that's a huge deal because all of them are experiencing enrollment challenges. And yet they do see the power in implementing programs that will work for each other and transitioning our high schoolers through the system better. Those are things that come to mind.

[18:30] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah. Across the board, Cradle to career. There are examples of these shining bright spots that you're seeing across the community. It's awesome.

[18:39] DANAE DAVIS: And one of the biggest, latest is the partnership across communities. So our Wisconsin partnership, which is Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha and Brown county united around mobilizing parents and families and others to advocate for what they want in policy change. That is huge. That lets us know it's another version of greater together in a way, because four communities then begin to influence statewide policy based on how many children we have, you know, and where the action needs to be in order to really change things for children across the state. So that is a three year investment from Strive Together. But actually, I think it's going to be long term change in model.

[19:27] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: What I love about the Wisconsin Partnership is the promise of bringing together really different types of communities around that common vision that you all have. Urban communities like Milwaukee and more rural places like Kenosha and Racine. And you're really lifting up the voices of families to drive what change looks like. And particularly in our time and place and context in the world where there's so much polarization and people just talk about what a fractured world we live in, that you all have really been able to work across political divides to get people focused on what really matters, which is actually putting kids and families at the center.

[20:12] DANAE DAVIS: Right, right.

[20:13] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: What's made that possible?

[20:15] DANAE DAVIS: I think, you know, the order is you build trust first. So what is that expression, speed of the change of trust anyway?

[20:25] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right, Change the speed of trust, trust, something like that.

[20:29] DANAE DAVIS: It's true once, because, you know, Milwaukee is the biggest city among those four partners. And heretofore it's been Milwaukee versus the rest of the state. And it shows up a lot of times, even when people aren't trying to be intentional. You know what I mean? So when we first formed this partnership, if truth be told, it was, is Milwaukee gonna force something down our throats? So we had to step back and start right, which was, let's listen to one another about our communities, cultures and priorities, particularly focused around early childhood education. And we had to come up with ground rules that shared power across all of the communities from the get go. So that we demonstrated that. And the core team is equal in power in terms of decisions to be made for the partnership. And then we all participated in hiring the staff and the team. And so that just, you know, we took the time. The first year was a lot of build that trust, introduce the partnership in each community equally to their partnership, you know what I mean? So their leadership, local leadership, got to understand the partnership the way they needed to understand it. Milwaukee is not the same as Racine. Kenosha is not the same as Brown County. And we took the time to do that So I think having started with build trust first, then you go to the common agenda. What are the two or three things we agree that we want to focus on? Shares and subsidy for childcare is one of the things that we all agreed. Now, each community may have something else they want to do, and we'll support you in what you want to do, but we're not forcing all of us to do the same thing. And once we agree on what we're going to advocate for and how we're going to advocate for it, and how we're going to deploy resources to support the advocacy towards winning, then we build for the next phase of that partnership being successful at influencing policy. So that's kind of what I think happened so far.

[22:47] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah, Powerful ingredients, right? People aligned towards a common vision. Trusting relationships, clear path to victory. Policy wins. Making it happen. One thing I'm wondering about is in the work that you do, what's something that you see really clearly about the world that you wish everyone else could just know as well?

[23:17] DANAE DAVIS: This is going to sound kind of emotional, but I think our children simply want people to believe in their dreams. And when I say people, adults, so that's parents and families and it's everyone who interacts and engages. It's the grocery store owner, it's the gas station, it's the childcare provider, it's the schools, it's the nonprofits for after school programs. It's, you know, the strangers and how they react to the children, caring about them and their dreams. Which means you have to kind of treat them as individuals and get to know them when it happens. I think about the leading men, fellows, for example. So those young men, fresh out of high school, but committed to, you know, being positive influences in kindergarten and Head Start, the joy they bring to these babies based upon how they treat them as they're helping them to learn how to spell their names, how to count their numbers through the use of fun games and spirit. So much so that these babies always are saying, I love you. And that impact on those young men to have a child say to them three and four and five years old, I love you. I love you too. They then step up and say, you know what? I gotta be a really good person. So my point in that example is to say that those young men, in pretty short order, based upon the nurturing approach that they take with the kids, inspire them to be successful. And anything those young men are trying to get them to do, that's part of paving a way of believing in dreams, you know, so I think if all of us as adults were to commit to our children and believing in their dreams, we would change our behavior. This is what I know. I have seen it. And it's not that complicated.

[25:44] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: What's not complicated about it?

[25:50] DANAE DAVIS: I always say positive spirit yields positive results. And I think that's. And we can do it all in our own ways. You know what I mean? I've seen these young men going back to the leading man fellows example, the influence they have over teachers who for whatever reason have chosen to be more focused on disciplinary strident behavior with these young people. They see how these children react to these young men. And as you know, they're black and brown young men and they want that too. I think. Sometimes I think they're reminded of why they went into education in the first place, you know, and so they'll start to do goofy songs and dances too. So I look at that and I say, see, that wasn't hard, was it? That's this Johnny or this, you know, Makeisha that you were swearing was a, you know, bad kid. Melts your heart because you changed how you treat her or him.

[26:56] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right. It's like for me, it comes down to leading with optimism and leading with kindness and believing in the power of another person's dreams.

[27:08] DANAE DAVIS: Yes. Know that they have them. Maybe if you know that they have them, then you won't squash them.

[27:15] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right.

[27:16] DANAE DAVIS: You know what I mean? Let alone support them. How novel would that be? Yeah, I think. And I think that to be true regardless of from whence our children are coming, you know, so despite their race, their zip coder circumstance, I think if we incent systems to be positive, then we're going to get positive results. You know, if we spend all our money on, you know, law enforcement and how many metal detectors we're going to put in the school buildings. Oh, now we're going to have to teach. What's that called? Gun. What's the stuff that they do where.

[28:03] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: They'Re teaching kids to, like preparing for the. For mass shootings and stuff?

[28:09] DANAE DAVIS: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, how awful is that? I mean, that just is incredibly bad. Let's try to figure out what are the mental, emotional, social health issues that have to be addressed by so many people that have not been treated and try to invest resources in that as a means of, you know, eliminating. And by the way, let's get all the guns off the street too.

[28:36] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right. You know, we've got big dreams for our communities.

[28:40] DANAE DAVIS: Yeah.

[28:41] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: And we're making it happen.

[28:42] DANAE DAVIS: Yeah.

[28:43] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: So to keep dreaming if you envision Milwaukee 10 years from now. What do you see?

[28:52] DANAE DAVIS: I see, and I really struggle with this question because today makes it so hard to see ten years from now. But I see Milwaukee having figured out how it transitions employment, and I mean family supporting employment from the good old days of manufacturing to what is today so that everybody can participate right now. We were so far behind in, I mean, manufacturing left 30 years ago, we're still experiencing the ills of that in terms of unemployment rates that have wide disparity gaps between black and white housing, the lack of affordable housing if you got a good job, the likelihood of being able to afford what is available is that much more enhanced. So 10 years from now, I see us having solved the issue of employment opportunities for way more people. I see young people choosing to stay here and take their rightful place in leadership. I see folks not just wanting to be here in the summer and escaping in the winter because, you know, all seasons are for all of us. I see the whole moniker of the most hyper segregated city in Milwaukee no longer being owned by Milwaukee. 10 years. I think we can do it. Yeah, I think we can do it. That's what I see. I see organizations across all affiliations working on common agendas. That's how we get to the 10 years that I envision, is because we see the power in being united around common goals and we understand that that's the only way we get results at scale, affecting positively everyone is if we do that. And of course, underneath all of that is we're acting with urgency.

[31:10] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right. And what do you think will still need to change ten years from now?

[31:17] DANAE DAVIS: We gotta own racism, call it, acknowledge it, and then do something about it. That's number one in my book. I think all of the excuse making and the, you know, the mistrust and even it's not just about, you know, we've got a lot of lately dialogues going on. At the foundation that I work at, we have this annual on the table event. We took it from Chicago Community Trust. And it's a wonderful opportunity for people to dialogue and learn and et cetera. But at the end of the day, if we're in our separate networks and we're not calling a thing a thing, you know, privilege, whatever, then we're perpetuating life as it currently is. So we kind of got to acknowledge it, own it and do something about it. I think that's the number one. I think a lot happens good when we do that.

[32:25] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah, it's like so much more is possible when we can truly Speak our truths and in a. In an unvarnished way. Almost like not hiding behind the pretty language, but actually opening yourself up to be vulnerable enough to share the risky thing.

[32:42] DANAE DAVIS: That's exactly right. The vulnerability. That's so the point, parv. It's uncomfortable for everybody. You know what I mean? There's no corner on the market on being uncomfortable. I'm not putting the mirror in front of your face because I want you to be uncomfortable. And I'm not uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable being in this. You know what I mean? But I think we have to appreciate each other's life experiences and meet each other where we are, but with the common goal of doing something about meeting.

[33:17] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Each other where we are, you know, and doing something.

[33:20] DANAE DAVIS: Yes.

[33:20] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah. Not just talk, but actually moving that talk to action.

[33:23] DANAE DAVIS: Exactly. Required. Urgent crisis. Seriously. And you know, the young ones coming up behind us, they're watching us and they get. They know whether we're serious, you know, how. Think about how well meaning, well intentioned activity looks like. Let's do some focus groups in the neighborhood and among the parents and among the. Whoever is. Are the ones for whom service is not being provided at an equitable level. And everybody wants to hear your story and they want you to tell them one more time how this looks and feels to you. You know, to be poor, to be homeless, to be. Name it. Right. And then everybody goes back and says, oh, that's just so, so much a shame, you know, but that's not ownership, that's. That's not like, what did I contribute to that?

[34:26] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Right. That's just admiring the problem.

[34:28] DANAE DAVIS: Exactly. So, you know, the time for that is kind of over. Been over. I think so, yeah. For a long time. So I think I can remember before Milwaukee succeeds and before strive together, maybe even before I left government, not government, private sector, to come into the nonprofit world I was getting. I was one of those, to be honest, who were saying, I can't wait to leave Milwaukee. I gotta get out of here. I've lived my entire adult life in this. I see no redeeming value. I gotta go somewhere where at least there's a fighting chance of. And it also looked like being so thrilled when my son went away to college in Tennessee. And then he came home and he's a teacher and I'm happy. And now he's gone again in Houston and I'm like, yes. So what flipped me from I've done all I can, in other words, given up, was this movement that we're in. I can see how we can do something different, you know, than I've ever experienced in all of the prior, you know, efforts. I'll just call them. And so I feel like I got renewed strength.

[35:46] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah.

[35:47] DANAE DAVIS: And I got renewed optimism. I'm inspired. And part of how I got there was the young people over and over again saying what must happen and what they're going to do to ensure. Well, how dare I, at whatever age, say that. Oh, I don't want to be a part of that. Oh, God, no. I really do want to be a part of that.

[36:14] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Yeah. We're so much stronger when we're all standing together in service of justice.

[36:20] DANAE DAVIS: We most definitely are.

[36:21] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: This has been so wonderful sharing, hearing your stories and sharing this time with you. Thank you so much for being game to talk with me today, Parv.

[36:32] DANAE DAVIS: I just adore you. This. You've been instrumental, but just such a. I don't know, I. I want to say awesome. That's the word that comes to mind. So I've enjoyed our time together, too, very much.

[36:48] PARVATHI SANTHOSH-KUMAR: Thank you.

[36:49] DANAE DAVIS: Thank.