Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Welch.
Hi Donna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
To know my story, you must know my beginning. I must give credit to the individuals who helped mold and shape my future. I was born at a time when family and community were a partnership. I was the first child born to a young, single mother still living at home and my grandparents shared the role of parenting and caring for me, even after my mother later married and became a military wife. With an unbreakable bond created between my grandparents and me, they continued to be my primary caregivers/guardians through the remaining of my childhood until I married at the age of 28 years old, right out of their home. I became their extended child after raising 7 children of their own.
Here is where I learned about family, faith, and service to others. This is where I witnessed the true meaning of “It takes a village to raise a child”. Being raised by my grandparents who lived to the ages of 83 and 94 also provided me with the nurturing and support of four aunts who played a very integral role in shaping my life. I learned about self-care, self-confidence, life skills, facing challenges, and overcoming obstacles. Surrounded and cared for by six strong females, set the tone and paved the way for my journey into womanhood. But yet, I was fortunate to have been nurtured by other strong and caring women, the senior women in my church, my best friend’s mother whom I referred to as my other mother, and then it was the neighbor down the street’s oldest daughter that saw the need to gather up the teen’s girls in the neighborhood and teach etiquette classes, character building and career planning after school and on the weekends. And gaining a mother-in-law who models the true meaning of a phenomenal woman, a woman of poise and grace, has been an added bonus to my life.
The level of guidance and support that I received from childhood to adulthood, is what helped me identify with my passion and purpose in life. It prepared me with the tools needed for 40-plus years of caring and advocating for young girls and youth. Witnessing so many young girls and youth that did not have the circle of support that I had growing up made it easy for me to walk into my purpose. This is where it all began for me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Speaking on the challenges that I have encountered in my journey of working with at-risk, disadvantaged, and underserved youth and families in a community with limited resources and funding sources to meet the wide range of services needed has been a major challenge in my years of working with this population. Organizations that have access to those in need the most, struggle to gain access to funding to meet the needs of those who they serve. The needs of children and families are much greater than the resources we may or may not receive.
Grassroots organizations must be creative and most often sacrifice our personal resources in order to fulfill the needs of those in our community that are faced with various hardships. When you are charged to carry out the work of people that are less fortunate than you, you must find ways to get the needs met with limited resources.
One of the greatest lessons I have learned through my many years of working with the underserved population. If starting a nonprofit to help fulfill a need, you must be willing to give more than you will receive. Minority-owned businesses and organizations often struggle to fulfill these needs based on limited funding sources, administrative support, and sustainability. It is not easy to gain the support of funders, when there are so many barriers to get around, causing less focus to be placed on seeing the bigger picture, of working together for the good of others “our youth and families”. These are lessons you learn when you answer the call to serve.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My journey to services began at 18 years old, volunteering with nonprofit organizations throughout the community that focused on youth, and this continued through my career of 14 years in retail advertising with the local newspaper until my second daughter was born. I have worked passionately in the youth development field for over 35 plus years, with a focus on addressing the social, emotional, and gender-specific needs of young girls, while assisting them with the various challenges of adolescence and living safe, healthy, and productive lives. I began my journey working with youth immediately after graduating high school, with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Program.
This is where I mentored my first teen mom. In 2008, I pursued one of my lifetime goals and launched My Daughter’s Keeper of Tampa Bay Incorporated, a non-for-profit organization designed to provide support to young girls ages 10-18 in the transitional and developmental stages of life and to offer support to parents and caregivers doing this critical time.
As I fulfilled my role as the Program Director for a local nonprofit agency for 11 years, which was designed to provide academic assistance, support, and enrichment to youth and families in impoverished neighborhoods in South St. Petersburg ended in 2018. But on the positive side, this is when I truly understood the greater cause, and continued to fulfill my purpose, serving as the President/Director of my own non-for-profit organization, which continues to meet the needs of youth and families in our community, that includes after-school and summer enrichment programs, creating a computer lab that supports students extended learning needs, delivering weekly “snack boxes” to youth who lives in non-traditional home environments within the community, through our annual Christmas “Adopt a Friend for the Holiday” gifts and toy drive for underprivileged youth, and partnering with other organizations to meet the various needs of our youth and young adults. My journey also has consisted of working with young girls in the Foster Care System for more than three years, providing hope and positive influence in preparing for a brighter future.
I have a long-standing history of serving and advocating for youth in our community. I’ve served on several organizational boards and advisory committees, including former board member of Everyone’s Youth United Incorporated, the YWCA Teen Advisory Committee, the Youth Arts Corp Advisory Committee, the 4-H Club Advisory Committee, Quantum Opportunities Youth Advisory Board, the Urban League Youth Crime Prevention Advisory Committee, and Clothes to Kids Board of Directors.
I have served as a Mentor for Pinellas County Schools for many years, a current member of the Board of Director for PEMHS Behavioral Health Organization of Pinellas County, and a member of the SAS Board for Behavioral Health Agencies and selected in 2021 as a “Wisdom Council Member for the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium (SBGWC)”.
As a daughter and a mother of two girls ages 20 and 29, I understand the challenges, struggles, insecurities, and gender bias surrounding young girls and women. For the past 40-plus years, I have been a champion for young girls, and to share my knowledge and provide a platform in efforts to reduce the risk factors that contribute to the well-being of adolescent girls, teens, and young adults, I have initiated the Champions Across The Bay Mentorship Initiative, a program that I will launch in the coming month through a recruitment campaign seeking to recruit a diverse group of women who are thriving in their personal, professional and spiritual lives and are graciously willing to help us develop a model of success for disadvantage and underserved adolescent girls, teens and young adults in the Tampa Bay Area.
We seek to create a network of women who can increase the protective factors that build, restore and empower girls in our various communities. The program will ensure the mentees and caregivers know there is a network of women who cares about them and can turn to them for advice through their developing years. To ensure the success of this program, I need the support of women who reside in the Tampa Bay Area to join me and become a Champion for Girls.
As the President of a nonprofit organization that stands for the empowerment and uplift of young girls, teens, and young adult women, and my present role as the First Lady of St. Petersburg, this will continue to be a top priority, therefore I’m inviting you to join me, by signing up as a champion through the ‘Champions Across Bay Mentorship Initiative’. By volunteering as a champion/mentor, you will have an opportunity to empower underserved and vulnerable young girls emotionally, mentally, and socially in the transitional stages of adolescence with ease. You will become the person who cares about her wellbeing, the person she can trust to give her sound advice and guide her towards achieving her goals.
What do you think about happiness?
When I see and read about so much hatefulness in the world when I listen to the heartfelt stories of young girls and youth who have been removed from their home environment for various reasons and walk into a life of uncertainties when I witness youth that struggles academically and lose hope for a better future when I read about young people dying at the hands of senseless behavior and activities, all for the lack of hope. It causes me to stop and think about the many young lives that I have had the opportunity to touch in my 35-plus years of service and witness many positive outcomes, that make me happy.
When I look at the support system that my two daughters have had the privilege to experience just as I did growing up, that makes me happy. Having a supportive mother, siblings, family members, and an amazing cousin who works from afar, as well as the support and giving back of youth that have benefited from my work or services, assure that our mission of serving others remains a high priority, makes me happy.
When I reflect on the lessons and words of wisdom that I received from my grandparents about life, people, and the world we live in, and can remain focused on what’s important, that makes me happy. And last but not least, witnessing the hard work, the dedication of service to mankind, and the resiliency of my two daughters and husband, the first African American Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, is my true expression of happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mdktampabay.org/
- Instagram: @mydaughterskeeper_tampabay
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donna.welch.1232
Image Credits
Photo Announce It! (dsapp@tampabay.rr.com)
