How one Milwaukee woman is changing her city – and Wisconsin – with each child she teaches

Vicki Davidson is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.

Vicki Davidson found her village, and now she gives back to it.

For 24 years, she’s helped hundreds of kids finish their homework, practice their reading and prepare for life. She’s worked with their parents and other adults to complete their high school education and find jobs. She’s coordinated with local colleges to build a strong roster of tutors.

Davidson, 65, serves as the program director for the Greentree-Teutonia Apartments Community Learning Center, a welcoming space within a low-income apartment complex in Milwaukee. She’s been described as the pulse of the complex’s rigorous summer enrichment and after-school programs.

Her influence has rippled beyond Greentree and spread across Milwaukee, a city known for stark racial disparities in educational outcomes, employment, income and home ownership. Davidson works on the ground level, moving child by child, with her influence spanning generations.

"It is my prayer that every child I poured into reaches back and does the same for others coming up with them and after them," she said.

The apartment complex is one of six in the state overseen by Housing Ministries of American Baptists in Wisconsin. Residents receive housing vouchers, and the waiting list for a one-bedroom apartment is three to four years.

Davidson knows the struggles residents face, because she once was one. Greentree, a nine-acre complex with more than 700 residents, is where she raised her son as a single mother, where she found a community of other mothers, and where she found her calling.

“This has been my mantra: I understand. I know,” she said. “And I've had them come through here and now I raise their children that are coming to the program, and that gives me joy.”

It’s not unusual for Davidson to get texts from her students: Hey Miss Vicki, things aren’t going well at home. Can you pick me up? 

She always replies. She always helps.

Davidson’s passion for education came from her mother, a teacher who filled her childhood home with books and magazines, like Ebony and Jet.

Her parents married in 1950 in Alabama, where her father had been prevented from voting because of his race. The day after the wedding, the couple moved to Milwaukee, where her father had a job secured at a factory and later opened a grocery store. He designed and built their house, brick by brick.

“Our education came through books,” she said. “You may not love reading, but you can love where it can take you.”

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Who paved the way for you?

My mother, Marie Davidson, her being a teacher and her being a Christian, her just being a hard-working woman.

I have not had it as hard as my mother had. But I appreciate everything she and my dad did. We're sitting at the kitchen table doing the homework, we're going over our factors, we're going over our multiplication, we're doing our spelling, while she's cooking cornbread and my dad is working second shift.

You have to look at that kind of work ethic and say, how do I do that? And then you just find a way to do what you can do, because she and my father found a way to do that.

What is your proudest moment?

The birth of my son.

Being a single mother was not easy. (My son) has been my pride and joy ever since. I'm sure most mothers would say that but it kind of ties into what I do and why children are so important to me. I know how important it is to have your mom, how important it is to have your dad. If you don't have the dad, then you have to have someone that's going to stand for you.

What is your definition of courage?

To take on whatever comes to you, however the chips may fall. You don't back off of it. You give it the prayer that it needs. And then you just do what you have to do, because God has got you. And even in the worst circumstances, he will give you the courage because that's why we do what we do – for his glory.

Is there a guiding principle or mantra that you tell yourself?

Just to give it to God. And I mean, have the faith to know that however it turns out, he is in control and his will is going to be done.

How do you overcome adversity?

I really do rely on my faith, because I'm not perfect. I don't get it right all the time. If you were to ask my son, and several of the children that I work with, Ms. Vicki is not perfect, and I've made a mistake or two and I do know that you have to humble yourself. I've gotten better about that over the years.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Stay the course. Listen to the people who know more than you do.

Because now the same things that I wasn't listening to when my mother and elders were telling me, I'm saying those same things to my son and the same things to the children. And if I knew then what I know now, and if I had someone that would have sat down and talked to me, like I'm able to talk to my son and able to talk to the students here, who knows the possibilities?

You’ve worked at the Learning Center for 24 years. Why have you done it for so long?

I have had other offers and other opportunities over the years, but the truth is, I love the people I serve and I truly enjoy my job. If I can help or encourage a child, a young mother, a single father, our seniors, then that is what I’m here for.

I find the encouragement to keep going when Paige, who is 20 now but has been with me since she was a baby, comes from Arizona, where she now lives, to show her boyfriend Greentree “because it was so important to me. It was my second home.”

And when Sariyah tells me she is going to the Navy when she turned 18 and she wanted me to meet her recruiter, so I would be at ease with her choice. She is now a standout in the Navy, got her associate's degree and has been serving our country for eight years.

... And when Raphiell, who came to us when he was 8 from Chicago's Cabrini-Green Housing Project, graduated from the Milwaukee High School of the Arts. He is a rap artist, musician and now a drummer on several drumlines, including the Milwaukee Bucks, and is in college at Milwaukee Area Technical College and a member of a fraternity.

What makes you hopeful about Milwaukee’s future?

I’m optimistic because it is my prayer that every child I poured into reaches back and does the same for others coming up with them, and after them. They know my expectation of them is to do great work and be great! I’m counting on the Greentree students, past and present, to pick up the baton and cross the finish line in victory. That will be a huge win for Milwaukee.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Greentree community learning center director honored by USA TODAY