DAYTON, Ohio — On a Saturday afternoon, a line of cars wrapped around Mt. Enon Baptist church in Dayton’s Wolf Creek neighborhood. As each car moved through, volunteers rushed back and forth with bags full of meals and arms full of backpacks.
It was the first West Dayton giveback of the year and the Dayton Young Black Professionals (YBP) worked with I Love West Dayton to serve hundreds of families, who also happened to be their friends and neighbors.
Daj’za Demmings kept the momentum flowing, making sure each car left with everything it needed.
An engineer by trade, the West Dayton native founded Young Black Professionals in 2018, after seeing similar groups in cities like Atlanta organize their communities and accomplish amazing things.
Now Demmings organizes for YBP full time.
“I’m still an engineer,” she said. “But now I’m engineering people.”
The group focuses on grassroots efforts both advocating for racial and economic inequity as well as helping meet people where they are, ensuring they have enough to eat and feed their children.
Demmings said the West Dayton Give Backs have become a quarterly tradition and have grown in popularity.
In the first 30 minutes of this give back event, volunteers gave out more than 100 meals and book bags full of school supplies.
Demmings said her team was ready.
“I’ve seen busier. It’s flowing so that’s all that matters,” she said. “I’ll take the flow.”
The last event was right before Thanksgiving where they gave away 1,000 meals in two hours, unfortunately running out due to the demand.
“If we didn’t go stuff like this there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t eat at all,” Demmings said.
Growing up in this community, she said she understands firsthand the issues her neighbors face, and how little attention seems to come their way.
In the Wolf Creek neighborhood, there’s no grocery store for miles and the median household earns less than half of Dayton’s median household income.
“You don’t really care about places you’re not from, which kind of shows why we don’t have a grocery store in seven zip code,” Demmings said.
That’s why she said it’s so important people from the neighborhood step up to help and Demmings said she’s far from the first role model to fit that mold.
She organized this give back event in honor of Dayton’s First Black City Commissioner, Idotha “Bootsie” Neal. Demmings invited her daughter and family to see their work in action.
“I definitely want to thank you guys for that,” she said as she greeted them.
Neal died in January at the age of 68, leaving behind decades of service in Dayton.
“We know that all people pass away but one thing that will never pass away is your legacy,” Demmings said.
Neal was elected 1991 and in that time, she championed revitalization projects, the renovation of historic buildings and business development in particularly in West Dayton.
She even formed a friendship across political aisles with Rep. Mike Turner (R-Dayton) who was mayor at the time of her years in office.
…and built the baseball stadium, Schuster Center, and RiverScape. Bootsie’s legacy of service through her sorority Delta Sigma Theta as well as to the entire Dayton community will forever be cherished.
— US Rep. Mike Turner (@RepMikeTurner) January 24, 2021
After leaving office in 2004, she moved onto serve as president of Wright Dunbar Inc. continuing to lead efforts to improve the quality of life on the west side.
Demmings said she’s proud to have groups like hers follow in Neal’s footsteps.
“It was great to be able to explain to people who this Black woman was who did all of this amazing stuff,” she said.
Demmings said she’s a firm believer that you can’t be what you can’t see. That’s why one of the pillars of YBP is to educate young Black men and women about people like them who have made lasting changes.
In honor of Neal, Demmings gave her family the YBP Black Excellence Award. It was supposed to go to Neal last year, but the awards gala was canceled due to COVID.
Neal’s daughter Erica accepted the award in her mother’s place.
