Welcome our New Community Engagement Coordinator, Dayona Evans!
Dayona Evans, Community Engagement Coordinator, Friends of the Tanner House
“There is an African proverb that says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” I believe in our children and I believe we can create the community they need to thrive in, together.”
We are grateful to be able to introduce Dayona Evans, the new part-time Community Engagement Coordinator for the Friends of the Tanner House. Wingspan grant funding for this position is made possible with the generous support from Spring Point Partners, and additional funding from PA Humanities, individual donors, and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
Hi! My name is Dayona Evans and I am honored to be on board with the Friends of the Tanner House as their Community Engagement Coordinator. I have a strong background in Early Childhood Education, having been involved with this work for the past 12 years. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in science with a major in ECE from Chestnut Hill College. This very work experience has prepared me for my role with the Tanner House and taught me how to make community with different communities. The first thing you learn as an educator—and for me, I learned this quickly—you can’t teach and the children can’t learn if you don’t understand where these children are coming from and figure out the best way to build trust and partnerships with their families. Sometimes we are under the impression that we simply come into these children’s lives to teach them but, the lessons they learn from us early on, help to shape who they can become in the future. You can’t understand a child without understanding their family dynamic, and once you understand where they are coming from you can now understand what supports they need to reach their next level.
I took on this role because it is very important to me that as a community we understand our history. Knowing our history helps us to understand how far we can go together as a community. It helps to develop pride in where you live. I am a proud community member of Strawberry Mansion and my greatest hope is to work with members of the community, organizations, and ordinary everyday people to re-imagine our neighborhood by honoring its richest mostly hidden history and using that history to fuel the future of hope in tomorrows. There is an African proverb that says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” I believe in our children and I believe we can create the community they need to thrive in, together. I look forward to doing this work, and I am thankful to be here.
